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Hopkins, J. (2021). Brain Anatomy and How the Brain Works. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/anatomy-of-the-brain

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What is the brain?

The brain is a complex organ that controls thought, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills, vision, breathing, temperature, hunger and every process that regulates our body. Together, the brain and spinal cord that extends from it make up the central nervous system, or CNS.

What is the brain made of?

Weighing about 3 pounds in the average adult, the brain is about 60% fat. The remaining 40% is a combination of water, protein, carbohydrates and salts. The brain itself is a not a muscle. It contains blood vessels and nerves, including neurons and glial cells.

What is the gray matter and white matter?

Gray and white matter are two different regions of the central nervous system. In the brain, gray matter refers to the darker, outer portion, while white matter describes the lighter, inner section underneath. In the spinal cord, this order is reversed: The white matter is on the outside, and the gray matter sits within.

Gray matter is primarily composed of neuron somas (the round central cell bodies), and white matter is mostly made of axons (the long stems that connects neurons together) wrapped in myelin (a protective coating). The different composition of neuron parts is why the two appear as separate shades on certain scans.

Each region serves a different role. Gray matter is primarily responsible for processing and interpreting information, while white matter transmits that information to other parts of the nervous system.

How does the brain work?

The brain sends and receives chemical and electrical signals throughout the body. Different signals control different processes, and your brain interprets each. Some make you feel tired, for example, while others make you feel pain.

Some messages are kept within the brain, while others are relayed through the spine and across the body's vast network of nerves to distant extremities. To do this, the central nervous system relies on billions of neurons (nerve cells).

Main Parts of the Brain and Their Functions

At a high level, the brain can be divided into the cerebrum, brainstem and cerebellum.

Cerebrum

The cerebrum (front of brain) comprises gray matter (the cerebral cortex) and white matter at its center. The largest part of the brain, the cerebrum initiates and coordinates movement and regulates temperature. Other areas of the cerebrum enable speech, judgment, thinking and reasoning, problem-solving, emotions and learning. Other functions relate to vision, hearing, touch and other senses.

Cerebral Cortex

Cortex is Latin for "bark," and describes the outer gray matter covering of the cerebrum. The cortex has a large surface area due to its folds, and comprises about half of the brain's weight.

The cerebral cortex is divided into two halves, or hemispheres. It is covered with ridges (gyri) and folds (sulci). The two halves join at a large, deep sulcus (the interhemispheric fissure, AKA the medial longitudinal fissure) that runs from the front of the head to the back. The right hemisphere controls the left side of the body, and the left half controls the right side of the body. The two halves communicate with one another through a large, C-shaped structure of white matter and nerve pathways called the corpus callosum. The corpus callosum is in the center of the cerebrum.

Brainstem

The brainstem (middle of brain) connects the cerebrum with the spinal cord. The brainstem includes the midbrain, the pons and the medulla.

Midbrain. The midbrain (or mesencephalon) is a very complex structure with a range of different neuron clusters (nuclei and colliculi), neural pathways and other structures. These features facilitate various functions, from hearing and movement to calculating responses and environmental changes. The midbrain also contains the substantia nigra, an area affected by Parkinson's disease that is rich in dopamine neurons and part of the basal ganglia, which enables movement and coordination.

Pons. The pons is the origin for four of the 12 cranial nerves, which enable a range of activities such as tear production, chewing, blinking, focusing vision, balance, hearing and facial expression. Named for the Latin word for "bridge," the pons is the connection between the midbrain and the medulla.

Medulla. At the bottom of the brainstem, the medulla is where the brain meets the spinal cord. The medulla is essential to survival. Functions of the medulla regulate many bodily activities, including heart rhythm, breathing, blood flow, and oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. The medulla produces reflexive activities such as sneezing, vomiting, coughing and swallowing.

The spinal cord extends from the bottom of the medulla and through a large opening in the bottom of the skull. Supported by the vertebrae, the spinal cord carries messages to and from the brain and the rest of the body.

Cerebellum

The cerebellum ("little brain") is a fist-sized portion of the brain located at the back of the head, below the temporal and occipital lobes and above the brainstem. Like the cerebral cortex, it has two hemispheres. The outer portion contains neurons, and the inner area communicates with the cerebral cortex. Its function is to coordinate voluntary muscle movements and to maintain posture, balance and equilibrium. New studies are exploring the cerebellum's roles in thought, emotions and social behavior, as well as its possible involvement in addiction, autism and schizophrenia.

Brain Coverings: Meninges

Three layers of protective covering called meninges surround the brain and the spinal cord.

The outermost layer, the dura mater, is thick and tough. It includes two layers: The periosteal layer of the dura mater lines the inner dome of the skull (cranium) and the meningeal layer is below that. Spaces between the layers allow for the passage of veins and arteries that supply blood flow to the brain.

The arachnoid mater is a thin, weblike layer of connective tissue that does not contain nerves or blood vessels. Below the arachnoid mater is the cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF. This fluid cushions the entire central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and continually circulates around these structures to remove impurities.

The pia mater is a thin membrane that hugs the surface of the brain and follows its contours. The pia mater is rich with veins and arteries.

Lobes of the Brain and What They Control

Each brain hemisphere (parts of the cerebrum) has four sections, called lobes: frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital. Each lobe controls specific functions.

Frontal lobe. The largest lobe of the brain, located in the front of the head, the frontal lobe is involved in personality characteristics, decision-making and movement. Recognition of smell usually involves parts of the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe contains Broca's area, which is associated with speech ability.

Parietal lobe. The middle part of the brain, the parietal lobe helps a person identify objects and understand spatial relationships (where one's body is compared with objects around the person). The parietal lobe is also involved in interpreting pain and touch in the body. The parietal lobe houses Wernicke's area, which helps the brain understand spoken language.

Occipital lobe. The occipital lobe is the back part of the brain that is involved with vision.

Temporal lobe. The sides of the brain, temporal lobes are involved in short-term memory, speech, musical rhythm and some degree of smell recognition.

Deeper Structures Within the Brain

Pituitary Gland

Sometimes called the "master gland," the pituitary gland is a pea-sized structure found deep in the brain behind the bridge of the nose. The pituitary gland governs the function of other glands in the body, regulating the flow of hormones from the thyroid, adrenals, ovaries and testicles. It receives chemical signals from the hypothalamus through its stalk and blood supply.

Hypothalamus

The hypothalamus is located above the pituitary gland and sends it chemical messages that control its function. It regulates body temperature, synchronizes sleep patterns, controls hunger and thirst and also plays a role in some aspects of memory and emotion.

Amygdala

Small, almond-shaped structures, an amygdala is located under each half (hemisphere) of the brain. Included in the limbic system, the amygdalae regulate emotion and memory and are associated with the brain's reward system, stress, and the "fight or flight" response when someone perceives a threat.

Hippocampus

A curved seahorse-shaped organ on the underside of each temporal lobe, the hippocampus is part of a larger structure called the hippocampal formation. It supports memory, learning, navigation and perception of space. It receives information from the cerebral cortex and may play a role in Alzheimer's disease.

Pineal Gland

The pineal gland is located deep in the brain and attached by a stalk to the top of the third ventricle. The pineal gland responds to light and dark and secretes melatonin, which regulates circadian rhythms and the sleep-wake cycle.

Ventricles and Cerebrospinal Fluid

Deep in the brain are four open areas with passageways between them. They also open into the central spinal canal and the area beneath arachnoid layer of the meninges.

The ventricles manufacture cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, a watery fluid that circulates in and around the ventricles and the spinal cord, and between the meninges. CSF surrounds and cushions the spinal cord and brain, washes out waste and impurities, and delivers nutrients.

Blood Supply to the Brain

Two sets of blood vessels supply blood and oxygen to the brain: the vertebral arteries and the carotid arteries.

The external carotid arteries extend up the sides of your neck, and are where you can feel your pulse when you touch the area with your fingertips. The internal carotid arteries branch into the skull and circulate blood to the front part of the brain.

The vertebral arteries follow the spinal column into the skull, where they join together at the brainstem and form the basilar artery, which supplies blood to the rear portions of the brain.

The circle of Willis, a loop of blood vessels near the bottom of the brain that connects major arteries, circulates blood from the front of the brain to the back and helps the arterial systems communicate with one another.

Cranial Nerves

Inside the cranium (the dome of the skull), there are 12 nerves, called cranial nerves:

Cranial nerve 1: The first is the olfactory nerve, which allows for your sense of smell.

Cranial nerve 2: The optic nerve governs eyesight.

Cranial nerve 3: The oculomotor nerve controls pupil response and other motions of the eye, and branches out from the area in the brainstem where the midbrain meets the pons.

Cranial nerve 4: The trochlear nerve controls muscles in the eye. It emerges from the back of the midbrain part of the brainstem.

Cranial nerve 5: The trigeminal nerve is the largest and most complex of the cranial nerves, with both sensory and motor function. It originates from the pons and conveys sensation from the scalp, teeth, jaw, sinuses, parts of the mouth and face to the brain, allows the function of chewing muscles, and much more.

Cranial nerve 6: The abducens nerve innervates some of the muscles in the eye.

Cranial nerve 7: The facial nerve supports face movement, taste, glandular and other functions.

Cranial nerve 8: The vestibulocochlear nerve facilitates balance and hearing.

Cranial nerve 9: The glossopharyngeal nerve allows taste, ear and throat movement, and has many more functions.

Cranial nerve 10: The vagus nerve allows sensation around the ear and the digestive system and controls motor activity in the heart, throat and digestive system.

Cranial nerve 11: The accessory nerve innervates specific muscles in the head, neck and shoulder.

Cranial nerve 12: The hypoglossal nerve supplies motor activity to the tongue.

The first two nerves originate in the cerebrum, and the remaining 10 cranial nerves emerge from the brainstem, which has three parts: the midbrain, the pons and the medulla.

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The brain is an important organ that controls thought, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills, vision, respiration, and every process that regulates your body.

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Oakley, B., & Sejnowski, T. J. (2021). Uncommon sense teaching: Practical insights in brain science to help students learn. Penguin.

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This explains how there are only 20 seconds of working memory at a time. If the person is distracted by outside noise, the ability to remember is overloaded. This is why I can't find my phone!

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The term “dual-process” refers to the idea that some behaviors and cognitive processes (such as decision-making) are the products of two distinct cognitive processes, often called System 1 and System 2 (Kaufmann, 2011:443-445). While System 1 is characterized by automatic, unconscious thought, System 2 is characterized by effortful, analytical, intentional thought (Osman, 2004:989).

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My Master's program developed this book together on training applications for instructional design models as an et al. with a Karen Medsker. You can find me under "Constructivism." This is available from Drexel at: https://drexel.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01DRXU_INST/1pcij0q/cdi_crossref_primary_10_1002_pfi_4140410409

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My drawing summarizing the Hardman Brain-Targeted Teaching Model, Without reference to Gagné, provides ideas similar to his book, "Conditions of Learning." She added an excellent description of Advance Organizers.

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Coined by David Ausubel, advance organizers introduce a unit of learning so that learners can connect previewed information to concepts they already know to aid retention and understanding. Graphic Organizers can be any visual interpolation of a concept but can be used as a format for an advance organizer.

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The article: "Building a sustainable career now requires flexibility and self-directed lifelong Learning." Maybe, employers should share that responsibility.

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Chew, S. L. (2021, June 17). An Advance Organizer for Student Learning: Choke Points and Pitfalls in Studying. Canadian

Psychology/Psychologie canadienne. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cap0000290

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Shows how information received daily is encoded and connected during sleep

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So much of the brain's innerworkings are still a mystery - and even more so when we are asleep. How much does the brain process from the outside world while we are sleeping comfortably, though? It turns out, brains never completely tune out the environment and are always making connections. Several U.S. National Science Foundation-powered studies have found different ways the brain is processing information while we sleep. In addition, these research paths may lead to ways to enhance learning and treatments for some characteristics of neurological disorders.

A study by scientists at Tel Aviv University and UCLA used sounds to explore how sleep blocks sensory signals from waking us by reaching our conscious awareness. The researchers found that when they played sounds, the individual neurons in the area of the brain responsible for early auditory processing responded when the subjects were asleep. However, the usual neural feedback signaling associated with conscious recognition was absent.

"We were looking at how the neurons respond to external sound during sleep. What's a little astounding is that it is like when you look at a Mozart piece, there's a fidelity in the performance. I think it's like every player (the neuron) is playing with great fidelity, but the conductor of the orchestra (the consciousness) is not present. There is an aspect that is missing that is probably found during conscious processing of information," explained UCLA researcher Dr. Izhak Fried, one of the lead investigators of the project.

Relational memories arise when associations are made connecting related events or attributes (i.e., names with faces). Maxim Bazhenov, a professor of medicine, and Timothy Tadros, a recent doctoral graduate from Bazhenov's lab at University of California San Diego, published an article describing their theoretical modeling describing mechanisms that can create and strengthen relational memories during sleep. "Every time one sees the same object, roughly the same neurons in the visual cortex would be active. If a person sees two objects in the same context, then these associations might be learned in the associative cortex by strengthening connections between neurons that represent the two objects," Tadros explained in a press release.

The authors modeled interactions between two parts of the brain, the thalamus (a structure, nicknamed "the gateway to the consciousness," that processes sight, hearing, taste and touch signals before you are consciously aware of them) and the cerebral cortex (where attention, perception and cognition occur) to test how associative memory formation occurs during sleep. Previous researchers have found a process called sleep replay, where neurons that are involved in previously learned tasks activate during sleep. This new model explored how associative memory arise in memory formation during sleep replay.

A study from Northwestern University investigated if execution-based movements could be improved during sleep. Researchers started by having participants associate specific sounds with electrical activity from specific arm movements by practicing these movements first with visual and auditory cues and then only with the auditory cues. The participants were then asked to nap, and sounds - including half the auditory cues - were played once they fell asleep.
Do you want to learn more about the brain and memory? Listen to NSF's Discovery Files feature on consolidated sleep.
About the Author

AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow

Eleanor earned her BS in Biology from Wittenberg University and her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Kentucky, after which she applied for the AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowship. She was placed as a Communication Specialist with the Science Policy & Communications team in the Office of Legislative & Public Affairs at the National Science Foundation.

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So much of the brain's innerworkings are still a mystery - and even more so when we are asleep. How much does the brain process from the outside world while we are sleeping comfortably, though? It turns out, brains never completely tune out the environment and are always making connections.

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Summary: Researchers developed a groundbreaking model called Brain Language Model (BrainLM) using generative artificial intelligence to map brain activity and its implications for behavior and disease. BrainLM leverages 80,000 scans from 40,000 subjects to create a foundational model that captures the dynamics of brain activity without the need for specific disease-related data.

This model significantly reduces the cost and scale of data required for traditional brain studies, offering a robust framework that can predict conditions like depression, anxiety, and PTSD more effectively than other tools. The BrainLM demonstrates a potent application in clinical trials, potentially halving the costs by identifying patients most likely to benefit from new treatments.
Key Facts:

1. Generative AI Model: BrainLM uses generative AI to analyze brain activity patterns from extensive datasets, learning the underlying dynamics without specific patient details.

2. Cost and Efficiency in Research: The model reduces the need for large-scale patient enrollments in clinical trials, potentially cutting costs significantly by using its predictive capabilities to select suitable candidates for studies.

3. Broad Applicability: Tested across different scanners and demographics, BrainLM has shown superior performance in predicting various mental health issues and holds promise for aiding future research and treatment strategies.

Source: Baylor Colleg of Medicine
A team of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Yale University incorporated generative artificial intelligence (AI) to create a foundational model for brain activity. The Brain Language Model (BrainLM) was developed to model the brain in silico and to determine how brain activities are related to human behavior and brain diseases.
The research was published as a conference paper at ICLR 2024.

"For a long time we've known that brain activity is related to a person's behavior and to a lot of illnesses like seizures or Parkinson's," said Dr. Chadi Abdallah, associate professor in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor and co-corresponding author of the paper.

"Functional brain imaging or functional MRIs allow us to look at brain activity throughout the brain, but we previously couldn't fully capture the dynamic of these activities in time and space using traditional data analytical tools.

"More recently, people started using machine learning to capture the brain complexity and how it relates it to specific illnesses, but that turned out to require enrolling and fully examining thousands of patients with a particular behavior or illness, a very expensive process."

The power of new generative AI tools is to use them to create foundational models independent of a particular task or specific patient population. Generative AI can act as a detective uncovering the hidden patterns within a dataset.

By analyzing the data points and the relationships between them, these models can learn the underlying dynamics-the how and why things change or evolve.

These foundational models are then fine-tuned to understand a range of topics. The researchers used generative AI to capture how the brain activity works regardless of a particular disorder or illness.

This can apply to any population without needing to know the subject's behavior, information about their illness, history or age. It just needs the brain activity to teach the computer and AI model how brain activity evolves over space and time.

The team took 80,000 scans from 40,000 subjects and trained the model to figure out how these brain activities related to each other over time, establishing the BrainLM brain activity foundational model. Now, researchers can use BrainLM to fine-tune a specific task and to ask questions in other studies.

"If you want to do a clinical trial to develop a medication for depression, for example, it could cost hundreds of millions of dollars because you need to enroll a large number of patients and treat them for a long time.

"With the power of BrainLM, we can potentially cut this cost in half by enrolling only half the subjects using the power of BrainLM to select the individuals most like to benefit from a treatment. So, BrainLM can apply the knowledge learned from the 80,000 scans to apply it to those specific study subjects," Abdallah said.

The first step, preprocessing, summarized signals and removed noise that are not relevant to brain activity. Researchers put the summaries into a machine learning model and masked a percentage of the data for each person. When the model learned the dynamic, they tested it on a left-out testing group.

They also tested this on different samples to understand how well the model could generalize to data acquired with different scanners and in different populations, such as older adults and younger adults.

They found that BrainLM performed well in various samples. They also found that BrainLM predicts depression, anxiety and PTSD severity better than other machine learning tools that do not use generative AI.

"We found that BrainLM is performing very well. It is predicting brain activity in a new sample that was hidden from it during the training as well as doing well with data from new scanners and new population," Abdallah said.

"These impressive results were achieved with scans from 40,000 subjects. We are now working on considerably increasing the training dataset.

"The stronger the model we can build, the more we can do to assist with patient care, such as developing new treatment for mental illnesses or guiding neurosurgery for seizures or DBS."

The researchers plan to apply this model for future research to predict illnesses related to the brain.

About this AI and neuroscience research news

Author: Homa Warren
Source: Baylor College of Medicine
Contact: Homa Warren - Baylor College of Medicine
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: The findings will be presented at ICLR 2024

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A New Era in Neuroscience with Generative AI - Neuroscience News

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Researchers developed a groundbreaking model called Brain Language Model (BrainLM) using generative artificial intelligence to map brain activity and its implications for behavior and disease.

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1. Gain attention – show variety of computer generated triangles

2. Identify objective – pose question: “What is an equilateral triangle?”

3. Recall prior learning – review definitions of triangles

4. Present stimulus – give definition of equilateral triangle

5. Guide learning- show example of how to create equilateral

6. Elicit per formance – ask students to create 5 different examples

7. Provide feedback – check all examples as correct/incorrect

8. Assess performance- provide scores and remediation

9. Enhance retention/transfer – show pictures of objects and ask students to identify equilaterals

Gagne (1985, chapter 12) provides examples of events for each category of learning outcomes.

Gagne, R. (1985). The Conditions of Learning (4th Ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

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Assessment is a measurement of growth. Evaluation is a judgment of mastery. When we assess arts integration, we are looking to see how a student’s understanding and application of knowledge evolved over time.  Assessment is about the process, not the end product.

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The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM

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Assessment Strategies for Integrated Studies

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There are so many types of assessment to use with arts integration and STEAM. Here's a guide with ideas and practical assessment strategies to try.

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Corporate learning has come a long way over the past 40 years, from classroom work in the 1980s to courses on floppy discs in the 90s, learning management systems (LMS) over the internet in the early 2000s, and most recently, learning experience platforms (LXPs) that personalize lessons and make recommendations of what to learn next.

This journey is ongoing. The pandemic has made virtual work - and learning - a staple in modern organizations. Teams are dispersed, and surveys suggest hybrid work is here to stay. Unfortunately, even LXPs have limitations that prevent them from truly serving organizations' needs around culture change.

Organizations need something better - something fit for our modern era of hybrid work.

NLI has been evolving and experimenting with the right learning modalities. We've turned to the science of learning and behavior change to build a first-of-its-kind platform for learning that lasts - and changes culture. It's called the Habit Activation Platform, or HAP. Organizations that use the HAP as their go-to learning platform can expect faster learning, greater engagement, deeper retention, and more profound shifts in behavior.

What's the HAP?

LXPs are currently the gold standard for learning, but they don't support learners in all the ways science knows to be effective. For example, while LXPs shift the focus from top-down learning to employee-driven learning, they don't ensure a consistent experience across all learners or bring people together around shared concepts.

This shortcoming matters because we know that people change their behaviors largely based on what other people are doing - what's normalized. Since culture change requires that people tilt their behaviors in the same direction, thereby making a new set of practices more normal than what people did previously, LXPs don't go far enough. They may educate people in isolation but won't shift a culture in unison.

This is where the HAP surpasses LXPs as the most cutting-edge way employees can learn. It builds on NLI's digital learning platforms, the Distributed Learning Solution (DLS) and High-Impact Virtual Experience (HIVE) - two methods of delivering rich learning experiences in bite-sized formats at a wide scale - and combines the best of all current learning modalities in a digital, AI-enabled platform.

How the HAP works

When team members join the HAP, they all go through the same curriculum for three weeks to build one habit at a time before a new three-week period opens up. It's up to each person how they space out the learning over each period. This ensures everyone is learning and socializing around the same material in the same time frame - an approach called " social learning," which has been shown to improve retention. Meanwhile, having the freedom to space out the lessons gives learners the autonomy to learn according to the schedule that works best for them.

In addition, as users go through the modules, their lessons are supplemented by a variety of science-backed strategies for enhancing what they learn, including before-and-after scenarios, if-then plans, user-generated responses, and access to NLI's custom chatbot, NILES.

Before-and-after scenarios: Each lesson includes a short story about a character dealing with the problem at hand. In the "before" scenario, the character struggles to make sense of the situation. At the end of the lesson, the "after" scenario shows how the person might shift their behavior based on the insights they gleaned from the lesson. This contrast offers users clarity around what needs to change to make the right impact.

If-then plans: A proven technique for behavior change is creating an if-then plan, which moves us from places of inaction to action. An if-then plan takes the form of "If I'm in X situation, then I will perform Y action." HAP users build their own if-then plans so they can start to implement the behaviors they just learned.

User-generated responses: To get people's gears turning, the HAP will often ask users to list issues or challenges they currently face in their own work. Prompting people to come up with their own answers has been shown to generate new connections and deepen engagement with the learning material.

NILES: NILES stands for Neuro Intelligent Leadership Enhancement System. Trained on NLI's decades of neuroscience-backed research, it serves as each user's personal assistant and coach for answering questions about key concepts in real time and offering plans as next steps - right at the moment users become curious.

The science behind the HAP

As we've written before, social learning underpins everything NLI offers to learners. Learning in the company of others - including a dynamic virtual environment such as the HAP - is the most effective way to store information in the brain so people can use it to shift their behavior. Learning the same material together, as a cohort, enhances retention in a way solo study can't match.

The HAP also follows the science of habit formation. It builds one habit at a time over time. Most LXPs give users too much information all at once. The experience becomes overwhelming, and retention suffers.

In contrast, the HAP recognizes the benefits of spacing learning out. It gives users just one habit to focus on at a time. Once that habit has been built, it moves on to the next one. Learners never become overwhelmed because the pace is always manageable.

This has the added benefit of keeping learners' attention. Research suggests that we can't focus for much more than 20 minutes at a time. The HAP is designed to require even less attention: 15 minutes at the most. Learners can start a lesson, get up to speed on a new topic quickly, and return to the work they were doing beforehand.

With the science of learning and behavior change embedded into the HAP, the platform builds a community of learners who have shared experiences together. They're constantly learning from each others' journeys and building on what they learned on their own.

The future of learning

Twenty years ago, the LMS revolutionized how employees learned. It centralized information and made it easily accessible to everyone. LXPs have innovated on that breakthrough, and the HAP marks the next phase of evolution. Importantly, the HAP makes use of several decades of insight into how humans learn best, and it embeds that wisdom into the learning journey.

The first solution running on the HAP is LEAD: The Neuroscience of Effective Management. This solution helps managers master the essential skills of leadership, including growth mindset, psychological safety, and accountability, so they can keep team members in the right frame of mind to drive results.

Already, the HAP is producing promising results: Preliminary data indicates that 97% of LEAD participants are applying each skill they learned at least once per week, with 72% applying each skill three or more times per week. In the future, NLI plans to roll out more of its solutions on the HAP, including DECIDE: The Neuroscience of Breaking Bias. Currently, NLI's learning solutions reach 5 million employees in 65% of the Fortune 100 each year. Now, bringing you these solutions through the HAP will let us deepen this impact, helping millions more people build better habits in their working lives.

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Introducing the Future of Organizational Learning: The Habit Activation Platform - NeuroLeadership Institute

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Learning and development are overdue for disruption. NLI's latest innovation updates learning solutions for the new world of work.

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chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://people.wou.edu/~brownbr/Classes/Writing_Goals_Objectives/1_Mager_Prepare_Behav_Obj.pdf

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Assessment is a measurement of growth. Evaluation is a judgment of mastery. When we assess arts integration, we are looking to see how a student’s understanding and application of knowledge evolved over time.  Assessment is about the process, not the end product.

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A Conversation with Pooja Agarwal on Retrieval Practice

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If you really want to see how innovative a school is, inquire about its thinking and practices regarding assessment. For the students, does the mere thought of assessment trigger stress? Do the teachers rely heavily on high-stakes, multiple-choice, Bell Curve-generating tests? Or do the students seem relaxed and engaged as teachers experiment with new forms of assessment designed to support deep and lasting learning?

Clearly, there continues to be a place for traditional assessments of learning that prepare students for standardized tests such as ERBs, AP exams, SATs, and college midterm exams. However, we believe that independent schools, unrestrained from the chains of public education policies, can take on an important leadership role in transforming K-12 assessments from a mere measure of short-term learning to a crucial component of the teaching and learning process. In this system of assessment, learning becomes personalized, encouraging students to adopt a mindset focused on discovery and engagement rather than grades and test scores. Most important, in such a system, the sharp lines between teaching, learning, and testing diminish.

This shift in thinking about assessment is a central issue for all schools. As the research strongly suggests, when students focus on mastery of learning rather than on their performance on tests, they significantly increase their intrinsic motivation for learning.

New forms of assessment can be found in an increasing number of independent schools today. One example is in a 10th-grade United States History class at St. Andrew's Episcopal School (Maryland) taught by coauthor Glenn Whitman. Instead of offering students a typical final exam, Glenn offers them a choice: "What type of final exam would help you to best demonstrate what you have learned in this class?" Based on their reflection, students select the format of their final exam. The more traditional and familiar option allows students to sit for two hours and complete an array of multiple-choice, document-analysis, historical-geography, and free-response questions. The alternative option is to complete what Glenn calls the "Historian's Head" ¹ - a collage of images and scholarly narratives that respond to the essential questions of the course.

In any given year, 60 to 80 percent of the students choose the assessment that asks them to demonstrate their understanding through images and scholarly narratives - even though this alternative is more demanding when it comes to higher-order thinking and executive functioning skills. It is also more time intensive. So why do so many students choose this option?

Here is what a few representative students have said:

I function better on projects than on tests because I do not work well under time constraints. In a two-hour exam, I get too stressed and I take too long on one answer. With the project, I am not timed and therefore I will not be stressed.

My primary reason for creating a "head" over a traditional exam is because it will allow me to be creative and use my knowledge in a different way besides memorizing what I have to know. Also I will be able to dedicate more time to it than I would to studying for an exam.

I chose this option over the regular exam because it has an artistic element to it and we are able to spend more time on it that enables a process of deeper thinking in contrast to the quick memorization that would be necessary for the traditional fi nal.

The journey to designing this assessment has been long. Not surprising, when Glenn first began his independent school teaching career in 1991, his assessments looked a lot like those he experienced as a student. And while instinct and intuition, and student feedback, suggested that there must be a better way to measure student understanding, ultimately the growing body of research in educational neuroscience became the game changer for his 10th-grade history final exam.

The field of educational neuroscience is still quite young - converging developmental psychology, cognitive science, and education. While some of its initial findings merely support what educators have intuitively believed, it is also challenging many assumptions and providing new insight into best educational practices, especially regarding assessment.

What we do know is that a plethora of assessment-related research has shed light not just on the importance of students' mindsets, but also on the importance of continual feedback and how active retrieval of information (memorization recall), in carefully spaced intervals, can produce long-lasting learning. Research also shows that providing students with assessment choice enhances attention and engagement - and confirms that the arts can help deepen long-term memory consolidation. ² These latter points were instrumental in driving the changes to Glenn's 10th-grade history final exam.

Specifically, the following research is helping to change our understanding of the correlation between teaching and learning - and altering our approaches to student assessment.

Mindsets: Performance vs. Mastery Goals

Research on the connection between motivation and learning has focused on two types of mindsets that students develop, based on the kind of experiences (including assessments) we present them with in school. Students tend to develop either performance-related goals or mastery goals. ³

Performance-related goals are those that are linked to more traditional types of assessments. Students become motivated by the grades they achieve, their rankings compared with other students, and extrinsic rewards such as honor rolls or school awards. In contrast, students who develop mastery goals are motivated by the actual learning experiences. Their rewards arise from the challenges of acquiring and applying new knowledge and skills.

While students may possess a combination of both types of goals, those motivated primarily by performance goals tend to lose motivation and confidence when faced with difficult academic challenges or when set back by failures. In contrast, students who are motivated by mastery goals are more likely to persevere in the face of such challenges. Difficult tasks or setbacks do not diminish their motivation or self-esteem. ⁴ Students with a mastery mindset, similar to those students who described their experiences in the history class at St. Andrew's, are more likely to choose more difficult but rewarding ways to demonstrate learning.

Feedback on Performance

Another focal point of research is the timeliness and method of providing feedback to students. Timely feedback has been shown to deepen one's memory for the material assessed. ⁵ Moreover, in a study comparing immediate versus delayed feedback, the mere anticipation of timely feedback produced better performance. Students who knew that they would get immediate feedback performed better on a task than those who were told that feedback would be delayed. ⁶ Finally, studies suggest that marking answers right or wrong (as in multiple-choice tests) has little effect on learning. However, providing the correct response only after a student has spent time "struggling" to find the correct answer significantly increases retention of the material. ⁷

Researchers have also discovered that the spacing of assessments and feedback produces more effective learning. If students revisit content over carefully spaced intervals, they retain information longer than if presented with information once and then only assessed immediately after initial (short-term) mastery. ⁸

These findings, among others, show us the reciprocal relationship between assessment and learning. Providing timely and effective feedback can improve students' mastery of the content and produce more efficient - and satisfying - learning experiences.

Active Retrieval of Information

A growing body of research suggests that actively retrieving information (self-testing) produces significant long-term benefits for learning compared with passive studying (merely reading one's class notes). ⁹ While any assessment requires some type of active retrieval, having students reconstruct what they know through alternative assessments (as in Glenn's U.S. history class) leads to deeper understanding and consolidates learning in more powerful ways than traditional testing. ¹⁰

Active retrieval is also crucial as students prepare for assessments. Too often, when we ask students to reflect on their study strategies, they say they simply reread class notes. Training students to build regular self-testing into their study strategies will help them embed material into their long-term memory. ¹¹

Students with a mastery mindset... are more likely to choose more difficult but rewarding ways to demonstrate learning.

From Theory to Practice

Moving neuroscientific research on assessment into classroom practice faces two barriers. First, despite the fact that the work of educators targets the organ of learning, the brain, most teachers and school leaders have little understanding of the architecture of the brain and how it receives, filters, and applies information. Second, work that falls under the various versions of "brain-based" is too often believed to be of greatest benefit to struggling learners, those who historically might be called "learning-challenged." Such thinking is shortsighted and fails to recognize the importance of research in educational neuroscience for all students.

Also, it seems that too many parents do not want to believe what K-12 teachers intuitively know: that every student needs help and guidance to meet his or her peak potential. A parent of an Advanced Placement History student recently asked Glenn, "What can educational neuroscience do for my son? He is already getting all A's." This question came at a time in the school year when hundreds of thousands of students were gearing up for AP exams and/or final course exams. These cumulative assessments of learning place intense demands and stress on each student - stress that, research tells us, inhibits optimal learning and demonstration of understanding.

Glenn's response to this AP student's parent came in the form of a question: "What if I told you that the lessons from educational neuroscience research could potentially reduce the number of hours your son spends studying?" This question should pique any parent's interest. Research on multitasking challenges the way most students study today - especially the transaction cost of switching between social media and academic responsibilities. Additionally, research also highlights the importance of active versus passive studying and how crucial sleep is for both resting and learning.

What teachers assess should be what they want students to know, not just for an upcoming test, but also for the long term. And how we assess students has important implications for whether students will retain content or procedural knowledge for the short or long term. Far too often, as neuropsychology professor Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa points out, "While students manage to keep enough dates, facts, and formulas in their head to pass the test, this knowledge never made it to long-term declarative memory, it was never truly learned at all (only memorized in the short term)." ¹² Research in educational neuroscience, therefore, should not only inform the types of assessments teachers give students but also help shape the strategies students use to prepare for assessments, or to work through projects, which Glenn prefers to call "learning opportunities."

Assessment Tic-Tac-Toe

The following assessment options can be used with middle school and high school students. Assessment Tic-Tac-Toe is designed to offer students options that both play to their strengths and encourage the development of new skills.

During the school year, each student must score tic-tac-toe by choosing a row, column, or diagonal assessment "chain" to be used as a summative assessment for three different units. Students are responsible for creating a grading rubric for each assessment they select as part of their assessment choice.

Podcast

3-D Medium (trifold poster,
diorama)

PowerPoint/Prezi/Keynote
Presentation

Public
Speaking/Oral
Presentation

Free Space (What else is
available that your teacher
has not learned about yet?)

2-D Medium (painting,
drawing, PowerPoint
poster)

How can all this research impact assessment at your school? Think of this as a challenge to teachers to embed richness in assessments - to think about how to foster optimal long-term learning when designing assessments for their classes or for individual students. We recognize that students - all students - have areas of evolving strength and weakness, passion and disinterest. When we get the richness right, we both challenge and support all students. What is important to understand about the human brain is that it changes with experience, a process often referred to as plasticity. When we create rich assessments that require deep thinking and problem solving, teachers are expanding students' cognitive capacities. How exciting to think of teachers as "brain changers."

Every year, we need to assess every student in multiple, developmentally appropriate ways (see sidebar on Assessment Tic-Tac-Toe). This is what differentiated assessment means. Some assessments will play to a student's strengths while others will pose significant challenges; some assessments will, wonderfully, do both.

Another central value of alternative assessments is that they help students learn essential skills for success in today's world - such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, resiliency, and grit. These skills are best developed through a variety of alternative assessments, particularly through project-based learning and design challenges in which "failing forward" - mistakes or failures that lead to breakthroughs, understanding, and student growth - is part of the assessment process. ¹³

Projects enhance student engagement. We also know that when students can own their learning choices, and make an emotional connection to the material, their learning is enhanced. Moreover, when we challenge students to demonstrate their learning in an authentic, purposeful way, they become more engaged in the process and actually learn more. As University of Virginia psychology professor Daniel Willingham points out, "A teacher's goal should always be to get students to think about meaning." ¹⁴ Alternative assessments do just that.

New Thinking at St. Andrew's

Here are some other important, research-informed changes in the ways St. Andrew's teachers think about assessment for their students. Such translation of research to practice further extends the school's highest-achieving students and improves student achievement overall.

Most units begin with a pretest to assess prior knowledge and to be able to measure individual student growth from the beginning to the end of a unit.

Teachers use more formative assessments, such as ungraded (thus low-stress) surprise quizzes, as a self-reflective process for students. Frequent formative assessments, which can be as short as one question, allow students to practice recalling knowledge from their long- and short-term memory. Frequent retrieval of information significantly enhances recall ability. This is called the "testing effect." It is a great way to have students begin or exit a class. And there are technology tools, such as Socrative, designed specifically to help with this process.

Teachers provide students with test-correction opportunities. Delaying or "scaffolding" feedback, and having students struggle with finding the correct answer, leads to better retention than does simply providing correct answers.

In order to help students decide appropriate study strategies, teachers ask them to reflect on what demands - attention, memory, visual thinking, executive functioning, language, neuromotor function, social or higher-order cognition - a particular assessment might be placing on their brains. This process includes providing students an opportunity to reflect - think metacognitively - on their assessment performance, particularly on how well their study strategies worked and how they might study differently in the future.

Teachers share research into the transaction costs associated with multitasking and how limiting the toggling between websites or social media channels while studying can enhance memory consolidation (certainly no easy request of today's students).¹⁵

As designers of their classes, teachers decide the appropriate assessments for a certain body of knowledge or skill. But what research regarding choice and engagement shows is that teachers should also respect the ability of students to make decisions about how they can best demonstrate their understanding (as well as their confusion). That is why it is essential that teachers and educational leaders have ongoing professional development about how the brain learns. The Center for Transformative Teaching & Learning (www.thecttl.org) at St. Andrew's was established to do just this - enhance teacher quality through training in the principles and strategies of neuroeducation.

Recent research on teacher efficacy points to the importance of deepening each teacher's toolkit with a neuroscientific lens into curriculum design and working with every student. ¹⁶ Such research supports the notion that when teachers understand the principles from educational neuroscience, they expand their teaching repertoire, including the ways they measure a student's knowledge, skills, and understanding. Assessments today, therefore, are much broader than what most of us adults experienced in our own academic journeys. And that is a good thing.

Notes

1. The final exam idea was adapted from Jim Percoco's "Historical Head" project in A Passion for the Past: Creative Teaching of U.S. History. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998.

2. See Mariale Hardiman, The Brain-Targeted Teaching Model for 21st-Century Schools. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, 2012.

3. Carole Ames and Jennifer Archer, "Achievement Goals in the Classroom: Students' Learning Strategies and Motivation Process," Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(3) 260-267 (1988).

4. Paul R. Pintrich, "Multiple Goals, Multiple Pathways: The Role of Goal Orientation in Learning and Achievement," Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(3), 544-555 (2000); Heidi Grant and Carol Dweck, "Clarifying Achievement Goals and Their Impact," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(3), 541-553 (2003).

5. Harold Pashler, Nicholas J. Cepeda, John T. Wixted, and Doug Rohrer, "When Does Feedback Facilitate Learning of Words?" Journal of Experimental Psychology, Learning, Memory and Cognition, 31(1), 3-8 (2005).

6. Keri L. Kettle and Gerald Häubl, "Motivation by Anticipation: Expecting Rapid Feedback Enhances Performance," Psychological Science, 21(4), 545-547 (2010).

7. Lisa K. Fazio, Barbie J. Huelser, Aaron Johnson, and Elizabeth J. Marsh, "Receiving Right/Wrong Feedback: Consequences for Learning," Memory, 18(3), 335-350 (2010).

8. See, for example, Nate Kornell, Alan D. Castel, Teal S. Eich, and Robert A. Bjork, "Spacing as the Friend of Both Memory and Induction in Young and Older Adults," Psychology and Aging, 25(2), 498-503 (2010).

9. See, for example, Jeffrey D. Karpicke and Henry L. Roediger, "The Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning," Science, 319(5865), 966-968 (2008).

10. Jeffrey D. Karpicke and Janell R. Blunt, "Retrieval Practice Produces More Learning than Elaborative Studying with Concept Mapping," Science, doi:10.1126/science.1199327 (2011).

11. Nate Kornell and Lisa K. Son, "Learners' Choices and Beliefs About Self-Testing," Memory 17(5), 493-501 (2009).

12. Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Mind, Brain, and Education Science: A Comprehensive Guide to the New Brain-Based Teaching. New York: W. W. Norton (2010).

13. See Paul Tough, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (2013).

14. Daniel Willingham, Why Don't Students Like School? A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 61 (2009).

15. Eyal Ophir, Clifford Nass, and Anthony D. Wagner, "Cognitive Control in Media Multitaskers," Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (2009).

16. Mariale Hardiman, Luke Rinne, R. John Bull, Emma Gregory, Julia Yarmolinskaya (in review), "How Knowledge of Neuro- and Cognitive Sciences Influences Teaching Practices, Attitudes, and Efficacy Beliefs." Manuscript submitted for publication. R. John Bull, Mariale Hardiman, Luke Rinne, "Professional Development Effects on Teacher Efficacy: Exploring How Knowledge of Neuro- and Cognitive Sciences Changes Beliefs and Practice." Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association conference, San Francisco (2013).
Independent Ideas Blog
Relationship Education: Listening to and Supporting the Well-Being of Black Teens

How young Black people navigate interracial relationships and what educators need to know
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If you really want to see how innovative a school is, inquire about its thinking and practices regarding assessment. For the students, does the mere thought of assessment trigger stress? Do the teachers rely heavily on high-stakes, multiple-choice, Bell Curve-generating tests?

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https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/2/inclusive-teaching-and-course-design

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How Adults Learn

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Positive changes in social acceptance

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A life-altering journey through the science of neuroaesthetics, which offers proof for how our brains and bodies transform when we participate in the arts-and how this knowledge can improve our health, enable us to flourish, and build stronger communities. "This book blew my mind!"-Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Grit

A BLOOMBERG BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * Finalist for the Inc. Non-Obvious Book Award and the Porchlight Business Book Award
Many of us think of the arts as entertainment-a luxury of some kind. In Your Brain on Art, authors Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross show how activities from painting and dancing to expressive writing, architecture, and more are essential to our lives.

We're on the verge of a cultural shift in which the arts can deliver potent, accessible, and proven solutions for the well-being of everyone. Magsamen and Ross offer compelling research that shows how engaging in an art project for as little as forty-five minutes reduces the stress hormone cortisol, no matter your skill level, and just one art experience per month can extend your life by ten years. They expand our understanding of how playing music builds cognitive skills and enhances learning; the vibrations of a tuning fork create sound waves to counteract stress; virtual reality can provide cutting-edge therapeutic benefit; and interactive exhibits dissolve the boundaries between art and viewers, engaging all of our senses and strengthening memory. Doctors have even been prescribing museum visits to address loneliness, dementia, and many other physical and mental health concerns.

Your Brain on Art is a portal into this new understanding about how the arts and aesthetics can help us transform traditional medicine, build healthier communities, and mend an aching planet.

Featuring conversations with artists such as David Byrne, Renée Fleming, and evolutionary biologist E. O. Wilson, Your Brain on Art is an authoritative guide to neuroaesthetics. The book weaves a tapestry of breakthrough research, insights from multidisciplinary pioneers, and compelling stories from people who are using the arts to enhance their lives.

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A life-altering journey through the science of neuroaesthetics, which offers proof for how our brains and bodies transform when we participate in the arts-and how this knowledge can improve our health, enable us to flourish, and build stronger communities."This book blew my mind!"-Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author of GritA BLOOMBERG BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * Finalist for the Inc.

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Wiorkowski, F. (2015). The experiences of students with autism spectrum disorders in college: A heuristic exploration. The Qualitative Report, 20(6), 847-863.

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Abstract

This inquiry was conducted to describe the experience of individuals with autism spectrum disorders who have experienced the higher education system. All participants have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and experienced some aspect of the higher education system. Data was collected using primarily face to face interviews. The data was then analyzed using the heuristic methodology of Dr. Clark Moustakas (1990). Ultimately, many patterns and themes emerged from this analysis, culminating in a creative synthesis which sums up the experience. The themes showed the highs and lows of being a college student coupled with the experience of having a developmental disorder as an adult. The final creative synthesis focuses on the life altering changes that occur during the course of the higher education experience for students with autism spectrum disorders.

Keywords

Autism Spectrum Disorders, College, Higher Education, Heuristic, Personal Experience

Author Bio(s)

Dr. Fleur Wiorkowski has studied psychology in a variety of settings for over 20 years. Most recently she completed her Ph.D. in educational psychology with a focus on bringing the needs of college students with autism spectrum disorders to the attention of other researchers. Correspondence regarding this article can be addressed directly to: Fleur Wiorkowski at, fwiorkowski@sbcglobal.net

Acknowledgements

This research was conducted as part of a doctoral dissertation to fulfill the requirements of the Ph.D. program in educational psychology at Capella University.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2163

Recommended APA Citation

Wiorkowski, F. (2015). The Experiences of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in College: A Heuristic Exploration. The Qualitative Report, 20(6), 847-863. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2163

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The Experiences of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in College: A Heuristic Exploration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This inquiry was conducted to describe the experience of individuals with autism spectrum disorders who have experienced the higher education system. All participants have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and experienced some aspect of the higher education system. Data was collected using primarily face to face interviews.

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Baron-Cohen and colleagues argued that these conditions are linked and that the co-occurrence of autism and synesthesia might increase the likelihood of possessing prodigious talents. This is in line with preliminary evidence that synesthesia is specifically more common in individuals with ASD who additionally report prodigious talents [26] and another case with ASD, savant syndrome, and synesthesia [34]. Synesthesia-like mapping between different ‘systems’ (e.g., colors, letters, numbers, days of the week, musical notes, etc.) might play an important role in developing prodigious talents [26, 34,35,36]. Concurrent synesthetic experiences might facilitate memory for, or discrimination of, inducing stimuli by enriching them and enhancing the attention towards them [33, 35].

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A case of co-occuring synesthesia, autism, prodigious talent and strong structural brain connectivity - BMC Psychiatry

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Background Synesthesia is a sensory phenomenon where certain domain-specific stimuli trigger additional sensations of e.g. color or texture. The condition occurs in about 4% of the general population, but is overrepresented in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), where it might also be associated with the presence of prodigious talents. Case presentation Here we describe the case of a young transsexual man with Asperger Syndrome, synesthesia and a prodigious talent for foreign language acquisition. In our case, not only letters, numbers, spoken words, music, noises, weekdays and months lead to highly consistent, vivid color sensations but also his own and others’ emotions, geometric shapes, any mathematical symbol, and letters from an unfamiliar alphabet (Hebrew). These color associations seem to aid categorization, differentiation and storage of information and might thereby contribute to the young man’s language acquisition ability. We investigated the young man’s structural brain connectivity in comparison to adults with or without ASD, applying global fiber tracking to diffusion-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data. The case presented with increased connectivity, especially between regions involved in visual and emotion processing, memory, and higher order associative binding regions. An electroencephalography experiment investigating synesthetic color and shape sensations while listening to music showed a negligible occipital alpha suppression, indicating that these internally generated synesthetic sensations derive from a different brain mechanism than when processing external visual information. Conclusions Taken together, this case study endorses the notion of a link between synesthesia, prodigious talent and autism, adding to the currently still sparse literature in this field. It provides new insights into the possible manifestations of synesthesia in individuals with ASD and its potential contribution to prodigious talents in people with an otherwise unexceptional cognitive profile. Additionally, this case impressively illustrates how synesthesia can be a key element not only of sensory perception but also social and emotional processing and contributes to existing evidence of increased brain connectivity in association with synesthesia.

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Figure 1. Neural Network Art [IMAGE] Note. Image created by Copilot from the prompt "Art and the Brain."

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We are all a mystery

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Illustrating the Drexel Article with CoPilot

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Illustrating the Drexel Article with CoPilot

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Prompts: measure with an hourglass using an EEG in pastel colors executed by Copilot

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Currently, machine-learning algorithms can learn from MRI images of healthy people's brains what features can predict the age of an individual's brain. By feeding many MRIs of healthy brains into a machine-learning algorithm along with the chronological ages of each of those brains, the algorithm can learn how to estimate the age of an individual's brain based on his or her MRI. Using this framework, Kounios and his colleagues developed the method for using EEGs instead of MRIs.

This can be thought of as a measure of general brain health, according to Kounios. If a brain looks younger than the brains of other healthy people of the same age, then there is no cause for concern. But if a brain looks older than the brains of similarly aged healthy peers, there could be premature brain aging - a "brain-age gap." Kounios explained that this kind of brain-age gap can be caused by a history of diseases, toxins, bad nutrition, and/or injuries, and can make a person vulnerable to age-related neurological disorders.

Despite brain-age estimates being a critical health marker, they have not been widely used in health care.

"Brain MRIs are expensive and, until now, brain-age estimation has been done only in neuroscience research laboratories," said Kounios. "But my colleagues and I have developed a machine-learning technology to estimate a person's brain age using a low-cost EEG system."

Electroencephalography, or EEG, is a recording of a person's brain waves. It's a less expensive and less invasive procedure than an MRI - the patient simply wears a headset for a few minutes. So, a machine learning program that can estimate brain age using EEG scans, rather than MRIs, could be a more accessible screening tool for brain health, according to Kounios.

"It can be used as a relatively inexpensive way to screen large numbers of people for vulnerability to age-related. And because of its low cost, a person can be screened at regular intervals to check for changes over time," Kounios said. "This can help to test the effectiveness of medications and other interventions. And healthy people could use this technique to test the effects of lifestyle changes as part of an overall strategy for optimizing brain performance."

Drexel University has licensed this brain-age estimation technology to Canadian health care company DiagnaMed Holdings for incorporation into a new digital health platform.

In addition to Kounios, Fengqing Zhang, PhD, and Yongtaek Oh, PhD, of Drexel University and Jessica Fleck, PhD, of Stockton University contributed to this research.

Read the full paper in Frontiers in Neuroergonomics.

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New AI-Technology Estimates Brain Age Using Low-Cost EEG Device

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Researchers from Drexel University's Creativity Research Lab developed an artificial intelligence technique that can effectively estimate an individual's brain age based on electroencephalogram (EEG) brain scans. The technology could help to make early, regular screening for degenerative brain diseases more accessible.