The Learning Success Blog

Is it possible the neurofeedback tools elite athletes are using to lift their performance can also be used to improve learning for students? And not just for top of the class students, but for all students regardless of their current learning achievements?

You may have heard about educational neuroscience, the science of learning, but what about sports neuroscience?  What do you know about that?

Well, sports neuroscience uses brain science to investigate how to improve the performance of top professional athletes, where a very small improvement can help them stand out from the pack.  And they have discovered neurofeedback can make the difference between a gold medal or just missing it by the finest margin. 

Dr David Rabiner, Research Professor at Duke University, USA is a world recognised expert on attention and ADHD.

He has developed a new approach to attention training called Nervanix Insight.  It uses neurofeedback (also known as EEG Biofeedback) to monitor and train attention skills.

According to scientific research, neurofeedback is the nonmedical approach for developing attention skills that has the strongest evidence for its effectiveness.

Traditional neurofeedback approaches generally use game-like activities that don’t have much resemblance to academic tasks that students need to focus on.

Wearable technology is here!

What is wearable technology? Think FitBit, the ubiquitous band so many people are wearing on their wrists to track their daily activity. That's probably the best known example of a wearable technology.

But there are many more examples in use right now. Samsung’s brainBAND for athletes, sweat sensors, stroke rehabilitation devices, the Muse meditation headband and the Nervanix Attention Headsets are just a few of them.

The greatest joy for me from working with educational neuroscience -  for most of this century - is the feedback from parents and students about their improvements. In some cases, how lives have been changed for the better (see below).

I've also watched how educational neuroscience has evolved as a specialised subject from what was originally known just as neuroscience. It has been interesting how the public's awareness of neuroscience has gone from almost unaware to the situation we have now where the neuroscience label is being put on all sorts of things that, unfortunately, are not even remotely neuroscience based. 

However, it is encouraging to see how educators and learners around the world have increasingly used research validated educational neuroscience technologies such as:

*Fast ForWord - “glasses for the ears” improves learning capacity and English language skills

* Cogmed - educators love this fast fix for working memory issues

Image if you had a piece of wearable technology that could "listen to your brain".  And use what it hears to help you to track your concentration while you study.

This might sound a bit like science fiction. But it's actually available now with the Clarity software and headset from the Nervanix Corporation.

It might surprise you to know that the technology behind it, known as EEG, is actually about 100 years old.

Dr Steve Miller is the chief science officer for Nervanix. He’s one of the driving forces behind the development of Nervanix Clarity.

Dr Miller explains how it all works in an interview on the Learning Capacity podcast.

He points out the significant implications for education. And how this new technology can enhance learning for all students involved in high value learning.

Listen to the podcast episode:

"Can you please pay attention?"

How often have you, as a teacher or parent, said this?

I'm sure you've done it many times, because you know that your message will not get through to the listener unless they pay attention.

Neuroscientist and attention expert, Dr Steve Miller spoke to The Learning Capacity Podcast about attention and learning, how we need to turn our brain’s attention spotlight on, and how this essential learning skill can be developed.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST