Neuroscience in Education:

Why the brain Isn’t going to school, or therapy

Child development, education, and therapy often cling to familiar methods, even when research offers conclusive advancements. According to NIH, this resistance to change stems from deeply ingrained practices and traditional structures within these fields. Established curricula and therapeutic approaches can be slow to adapt, hindering the integration of neuroscientific principles.  Additionally, a shortage of interdisciplinary collaboration and training limits the transfer of knowledge between researchers, educators, and therapists. Recognizing this gap should resonate with our innate desire to provide the best possible support for children. With that in mind, let’s explore two fundamental principles of early childhood learning, grounded in neuroscience, which are often overlooked or inconsistently applied in therapeutic and educational settings.

The Science of “Want To” vs. “Have To”: Unpacking Internal and External Motivation

We’ve all been there. Sometimes we’re driven by a fire within, eager to tackle a project or learn a new skill. Other times, we drag our feet, motivated solely by deadlines or the promise of a reward. This is the difference between internal and external motivation, and neuroscience sheds fascinating light on how these two forces operate in our brains.

Internal Motivation: The Joy of the Journey

Internal motivation stems from numerous places.  It could be the inherent satisfaction of an activity itself or more frequently the feelings you experience within a meaningful relationship that drive you to participate, overcome challenges, and succeed. Think of the athlete striving to win who wants to the be the best or who believes trying your hardest and achieving success is an important part of who he is. This type of motivation is linked to the brain’s reward system, specifically the release of dopamine.

When we engage in experiences we find intrinsically rewarding, dopamine floods our brain, creating feelings of pleasure and reinforcing the behavior. This explains why internally motivated individuals tend to be more persistent, engaged, and ultimately, successful.

External Motivation: The Carrot and the Stick

External motivation, on the other hand, arises from factors outside of ourselves. This could be the promise of a reward, fear of punishment, or social pressure. While external motivators can be effective in the short term, they often lack the staying power of internal motivation.

Neuroscience suggests that external motivation relies more on the brain’s stress response system. The anticipation of a reward or the avoidance of a negative consequence triggers the release of cortisol, the stress hormone. This can lead to a sense of pressure and anxiety, potentially undermining long-term engagement and well-being.

Unless you are a neuroscientist, the names of these parts of the brain are probably not worth memorizing.  However, their functions need to be understood in relation to the many areas of the brain individuals with Autism and autistic individuals experience differences within.  For example, “… data support the hypothesis that children with ASD have diminished neural responses to Social Rewards, and that this deficit relates to social learning impairments.” (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3076289/) 

To foster healthy social and emotional development, we need to focus on activating key brain regions like the VTA and Nucleus Accumbens, responsible for processing social rewards and generating feelings of pleasure. This is particularly important for children with developmental differences, including autism, who may show less activation in these areas.  Additionally, it is essential to encourage the development of the prefrontal cortex, especially in young children. This area plays a vital role in executive functions, and difficulties in this domain are often observed in children with autism, ADD, and ADHD. By fostering environments that support self-regulation, problem-solving, and flexible thinking, we can help strengthen these crucial neural pathways.

Greenspan Floortime, a neurodiversity-affirming approach, recognizes this need by prioritizing child-led exploration and meaningful social engagement. Dr. Greenspan’s approach creates opportunities for children to connect with others in positive ways, naturally stimulating the reward circuitry and promoting a sense of joy and connection.  Conversely, rigid and highly structured environments, often found in special needs classrooms, ABA clinics, and traditional adult led therapies, may inadvertently trigger the amygdala, the brain’s fear center. This can lead to increased stress responses and hinder social-emotional growth.

Thinking vs Copying or Memorizing

Another necessary ingredient in a neuroscience supported learning process is making sure the child is “doing the thinking”.  This means that they are figuring out their own idea, solution, or response and not using one that was told to them, modelled for them, or memorized.  

When you figure something out on your own compared to being shown how to do it, your brain engages different neural pathways, with increased activity in areas associated with problem-solving, working memory, and decision-making, particularly in the prefrontal cortex.  Being shown/told how to perform a task or observing someone else performing one primarily activates the motor cortex and visual processing regions, leading to a more passive learning experience.

Key differences in brain activity:

• Active exploration vs. observation: When figuring something out independently, your brain actively explores different possibilities, making connections between existing knowledge and new information, resulting in stronger neural pathways and deeper understanding. 
• Increased prefrontal cortex engagement: The prefrontal cortex, responsible for complex cognitive functions like planning and decision-making, is heavily involved when actively problem-solving, leading to more deliberate and flexible thinking. 
• Reward system involvement: When you successfully solve a problem on your own, your brain’s reward system releases dopamine, which reinforces the learning process and promotes further exploration. 
• Motor cortex activation: When watching someone else perform an action, the motor cortex in your brain is partially activated as if you were doing the action yourself, facilitating learning through imitation but without the same level of cognitive effort. 

Brain regions involved:

• Prefrontal cortex: Key area for complex cognitive functions, including planning, decision-making, and working memory, highly active when figuring things out independently. 
• Parietal cortex: Involved in integrating sensory information and spatial reasoning, important for understanding relationships between different elements of a problem. 
• Hippocampus: Plays a crucial role in memory consolidation, helping to store new knowledge acquired through problem-solving. 
• Motor cortex: Activated when observing actions, allowing for imitation and learning through observation. 

Conclusion

It’s clear that bridging the gap between neuroscience and real-world practice in education and therapy is crucial for optimizing children’s development. By understanding how internal motivation, “getting the child to do the thinking”, and social engagement impact the brain, we can create learning environments that truly nurture a child’s potential.

In light of this, Greenspan Floortime emerges as a compelling approach. It emphasizes the importance of:

• Following the child’s lead: This fosters internal motivation and encourages active exploration, engaging the reward system and prefrontal cortex.
• Creating joyful, meaningful interactions: Floortime prioritizes warm, responsive relationships that promote social engagement and activate the brain’s reward circuitry, particularly crucial for children with autism who may experience differences in social reward processing.
• Facilitating problem-solving and creative thinking: By encouraging children to “figure things out” and to “do the thinking” within playful interactions with emotional support, Floortime promotes deeper learning and strengthens neural pathways associated with problem-solving and decision-making.

By embracing approaches like Greenspan Floortime, which align with the principles of neuroscience, we can move beyond traditional methods and empower children to reach their full potential. This shift demands a commitment to ongoing learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a willingness to embrace innovative practices that are grounded in the science of how children learn and grow.