“The primary purpose of the brain is keeping the body alive and to preserve the species to reproduce.”
John Medina
Novelty & Education
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Why is the human brain hard-wired to instantaneously pay attention to novelty? Why is the brain so responsive to novelty? And can educators duplicate this affinity to novelty during instruction to improve student learning? The effective use of novelty improves students' learning.
It turns out there are two reasons why the brain pays attention to novelty.
Imagine our ancestors taking a leisurely walk through the savanna to the river for the group’s daily supply of water. But before reaching the river, he or she notices something novel and unusual in the brush. By paying attention to this event, the brain might be insuring the survival of the species.
The above story exemplifies one very important point: the brain has evolved to seek out and immediately pay attention to novelty, and by keenly observing similarities and differences (comparative thinking) in environmental patterns helps the species survive.
Quoting John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist with special research interests in the genes involved in human brain development and author of the best-selling book Brain Rules, “The primary purpose of the brain is keeping the body alive and to preserve the species to reproduce.”
John Medina talks about the brain and its survival instincts.
The sudden movement in the brush was a novel event coupled with movement and a disruption in a pattern (comparative thinking) of the environment caused by sensory stimulation, thus alerting the brain to possible danger and thereby assuring the survival of the species.
“For survival, what would the brain select to filter? Novelty and change. The question then becomes does the novel item or change represent a danger? Is it a threat to survival or will it improve survival?”, Median advances.
To deal with this selection, the brain has a sensory intake filter called the reticular activating system (RAS), in the lower part of the posterior brain, as posited by Judy Willis and Tim McTighe in their book Upgrade Your Teaching: Understanding by Design Meets Neuroscience. They continue to explain that the RAS edits incoming information to the brain and determines what the brain attends to and what sensory information gets in.
In other words, if the RAS doesn’t “see” the input, then the RAS doesn’t select it. For example, how does your right foot feel? Before your right foot was mentioned, you had no idea of how your right foot felt.
For example, imagine you are in a quiet room and someone turns on a loud, noisy fan. At first, it’s obvious and irritating. But if you are forced to stay in the room long enough, the fan starts to become part of the background noise. In other words, your body registers the sound at first, but eventually it realizes “Oh, this is the new normal for this environment.” Your body adapts and the noise fades away. When something new and exciting enters your environment, the RAS “sees” it and therefore “selects” it.
Conversely, an environment that contains mainly predictable or repeated stimuli (like some classrooms?) lowers the brain’s interest in the outside world and tempts it to turn within for novel sensations.
The reticular activating system (RAS) explained.
The second reason the brain pays attention to novel events is because it makes it feel good!
A novel event stimulates the instant release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, a chemical messenger in the brain that brings on a sensation of joy and delight and is directly linked to the reward center of the brain. When we experience novelty or accomplish a novel task, not only is dopamine released, but also there is a corresponding increase in focus, memory, and motivation.
Two modern-day examples of feel good, novel events causing the dopamine cells in the brain to fire up are getting an unexpected text and remembering more about your last vacation than your last faculty meeting (I will guarantee that!).
Short video explaining "What is Dopamine and What it Does to You."
Educationally, how does a teacher insure information passes through the RAS filter insuring awareness of an experience? Just as the brain uses and relies on novelty for survival, so too must teachers infuse novelty into their everyday pedagogy.
"To engage students, you have to engage their brains," according to John Almarode, an assistant professor in the College of Education at James Madison University. He writes that students thrive in a rich classroom environment when every 8 to 10 minutes the teacher mixes up the activities. After introducing an idea, have students turn and talk with their neighbor about the concept. Or, better yet, have them walk 20 steps, freeze, and then chat in a group of three. Play some music to energize the room and fill the silence that might otherwise keep students from opening up.
Almarode explains, “This not only makes school more fun, it's rooted in science. The brain loves novelty and when new strategies are used to convey information, it is more receptive to learning.”
“Part of our success as a species can be attributed to the brain’s persistent interest in novelty, that is, changes occurring in the environment”, writes David Sousa. Sousa, an international educational consultant and author of more than a dozen books, suggests ways that educators and parents can translate current brain research into strategies to improve learning. He submits that the brain is constantly scanning its environment for stimuli and when an unexpected stimulus arises—such as a loud noise from an empty room—a rush of adrenaline closes down all unnecessary activity and focuses the brain’s attention so it can spring into action.
Sousa stresses that using novelty does not mean that the teacher needs to be a stand-up comic or the classroom a three-ring circus. It simply means using a varied teaching approach that involves more student activity. Sousa’s suggestions for incorporating novelty in your lessons includes the use of humor, movement, multi-sensory instruction, quiz games, and music.