The which is which of neuroscience

As this series of articles continue to build, I'd love to hear from those of you reading, what you are curious about when it comes to your brains and how they learn. In the meantime, I thought it would be beneficial to take a small step back and and clearly define the disciplines that sometimes get mixed up. Considering that they're all involved in one way or another with your brains, its easy to get confused, and even as I comb through the research to paint a concise picture, even my axons (wires) are getting crossed.

In a previous article the simple definition I provided for neuroscience, was the study of the brain and its functions. Neuroscientist Paul King summed it up a bit better than I did though: "Neuroscience adds to that the study of how the brain works, mechanistically, functionally, and systemically to produce observable behaviour." But what about neuroeducation, cognitive science? cognitive psychology? that's a lot of brain action left to explore.

I can start by telling you that the reason I specifically chose to get my credentials in the fundamentals of neuroscience and medical neuroscience. Really it was because for all the years I had been designing learning and facilitating, though I was always taking into consideration my learners, and was mildly intuitive to the needs of their brains, I really wanted to understand exactly which parts were doing what in there. Which areas of the brain were specialised for what? and how could I evolve the way I design learning to really call upon those areas and increase retention and recall? Needless say, mission accomplished. Not only have I taken my own learning to amazing new heights, but now can do it for others too! But wait, shouldn't cognition be in there somewhere? why, yes, yes it should.

Cognitive science is an extension of psychology and is literally the study of cognition, or thought. Anything around problem-solving, perception, decision making, is what this branch covers. It answers the questions of what test can we conduct that will produce observable results to show us what is going on in the mind or brain. So you can see that there is great value in this science as it correlates to learning as well.

Now, let's bring them together and add the word education. Neuroeducation takes the findings from neuroscience and combines them with cognitive functions, to come up with potential findings that will further help people like myself to design learning that can effects on overall brain function.

So my friends, there you have it, in the most brief and uncomplicated way as I can put it. But at the rate that research takes place by all the incredible scientists and doctors all around the world these days, there will always be more to learn and more to share.

YARR for now! Lauren. aka Learning Pirate