Week 1: Neuromyths, leadership Flashcards
What is a neuromyth?
What are some common neuromyths?
People only use 10% of their brain, we have learning styles, there is a left/right brain
What sort of evidence is there that the 10% of our brain belief is actually a myth?
Plenty of evidence from function brain scans, even if they are doing ‘nothing’ all areas of the brain are active, and evolutionarily it makes no sense. Beyerstein thought it was a misunderstanding of a quote from William James about potential
What percentage of the body weight is the brain and how much % energy does the brain use
The brain uses 20% of the energy despite being 2% of body weight
What is the myth of left brain right brain and where did it come from??
What is the evidence against left brain right brain?
Where is there brain activity in ‘divergent thinking’ tasks?
strong activation in both hemispheres
What did the Beaty 2016 paper conclude about creative thought and brain networks?
What was the intention of the Brain gym?
It was done under the false apprehension that it would stimulate their brain in some way
Is there conclusive proof that we have multiple intelligences? And who started the idea?
there is a Lack of empirical data
What are some of the types of intelligence that lack any empirical data, suggested by Gardner?
What is the critical argument against labeling varied skills as ‘intelligences’?
The argument is that calling varied skills ‘intelligences’ dilutes the meaning of the word ‘intelligence’. Lynn Waterhouse’s critical review on multiple intelligences is often cited as essential reading on this topic.
What does 100 years of research suggest about the correlation between different mental tests?
An extensive body of research indicates that scores on a wide range of mental tests tend to positively correlate. In other words, people who are good at one test are often good at others as well.
How does the ‘g-factor’ or ‘general intelligence’ challenge Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences theory?
The ‘g-factor’ or ‘general intelligence’ suggests that there is a substantial part of intelligence that is general across various tasks. This contradicts Gardner’s theory of ‘multiple intelligences’, which posits that these skills are broadly independent of one another.
What does the data from military service IQ tests in Sweden suggest about the relationship between IQ and mortality?
The data indicates a staircase-like relationship between IQ and risk of death. People with higher IQ scores were less likely to be dead at the follow-up. The risk for people in the lowest IQ category is almost three-and-a-half times higher than those in the highest category.
List at least two reasons why smarter people may live longer.
One reason could be that higher intelligence leads to better education and job opportunities, enabling access to better healthcare. Another reason could be that smarter people tend to take better care of themselves, as evidenced by lower rates of smoking and car accidents.
What is a common myth about IQ tests?
The common myth is that “IQ tests just tell you how good you are at doing IQ tests.”
How has the myth that IQ tests only measure skill at IQ tests been debunked?
The myth has been debunked by evidence showing that IQ tests predict various life outcomes such as mortality, educational attainment, occupational success, and physical and mental health.
What might be an underlying factor if someone has a lower IQ, according to one of the suggested reasons?
One suggested reason for a lower IQ is that it could signal a disadvantaged background, like malnutrition or illness during childhood, which could have inhibited full brain development and affected life expectancy.
What is the core idea behind the concept of ‘learning styles’?
The core idea is that people have innate preferences for how they learn best—Visual, Auditory, or Kinaesthetic (VAK)—and that teaching should be customized to accommodate these styles.
What is the most common taxonomy used to describe learning styles?
The most common taxonomy is often called VAK, which stands for Visual-Auditory-Kinaesthetic.
What type of evidence did Hal Pashler and colleagues say would be acceptable to validate the idea of learning styles?
Pashler and colleagues suggested that ‘acceptable’ evidence would show separable subtypes of learners who react differently to different styles of teaching. For example, ‘A’ style learners would perform better with one teaching method, while ‘B’ style learners would perform better with another.
How many studies have shown this ‘acceptable’ evidence supporting the existence of learning styles?
According to the information, there are zero studies that have provided ‘acceptable’ evidence supporting the idea of learning styles, even in the decade since Pashler’s paper.
What kind of evidence did Pashler and colleagues consider ‘unacceptable’ for supporting the idea of learning styles?
Pashler and colleagues deemed ‘unacceptable’ any evidence where one method works equally well for all types of learners or makes no significant difference between them.
Why is the evidence classified as ‘unacceptable’ by Pashler and colleagues still important?
While this type of evidence may not support the existence of learning styles, it does identify effective and ineffective methods of teaching and learning that are generalizable across learners.
What is the main critique of the learning styles theory, according to the available evidence?
The main critique is that there is no empirical evidence supporting the notion that teaching should be customized based on individual learning styles.
Are people good at judging which way of studying is actually best for them?
Evidence indicates that people are generally poor at judging which way of studying is the most effective, often leading to suboptimal study methods.
How should teaching be conducted according to the evidence discussed by Pashler and colleagues?
Given the lack of evidence supporting learning styles, teaching methods should focus on universally effective approaches rather than customizing for individual learning styles
What is the myth related to intelligence and brain size?
The myth is that smarter people have bigger brains. However, contrary to popular belief, this is actually based on empirical science.
How have researchers studied the correlation between brain size and intelligence?
Researchers have used measures of brain volume from structural MRI imaging and correlated them with measures of IQ. A meta-analysis by Pietchnig and colleagues in 2015 collated these studies.
What is the overall correlation between brain size and IQ, according to the meta-analysis?
The overall correlation came to r = 0.26 on the usual correlation scale between -1 and 1. While it is a modest-sized correlation, it is statistically significant and suggests that a relationship exists.
What are the unknowns in the relationship between brain size and IQ?
While the correlation is established, the causative factors are not yet known. It is unclear whether the number of neurons, their size, or other factors contribute to better performance on IQ tests.
How many people were included in the meta-analysis by Pietchnig and colleagues?
The meta-analysis included around 5,000 people, providing a substantial sample size for the study.
What does it mean when we say that IQ is heritable?
Heritability of IQ means that some proportion of the variation in IQ scores is linked to genetic variation. Data shows that people who are more genetically related have higher correlations in their IQ scores.
