Neuroscience in ELT

Researchers found that the 100 billion neurons figure is yet another neuromyth (but not far off)

First time ever the activity of a whole brain can be seen... lots of pretty colours!

Podcast interview with top neuroscientist V.S Ramachandran

Scientists consider the almost impossible task of drawing a circuit diagram for all 86 billion neurons and how they connect up: the 'connectome'. A fantastic video showing cutting edge technology seeing the neural pathways as never before!

About the problem of tracking what helps people learn... Willy Cardoso says: The problem is the constant search for a cause-effect relationships; something to overcome perhaps. Did the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?? We'll never know because, ultimately, causes can't be fully tracked; therefore, explanations of consequences are inevitably incomplete.

Interesting practical book on education and neuroscience, but jumps too quickly to conclusions? eg See vitamins & exercise - worth researching further??? Probably bunk

Is there a case for incorporating more kinaesthetic practices? Embodied cognition

Bonkers.

Bilinguals have thicker grey matter

A must. GoCognitive has interviews with the experts (, games and personal tests that help you understand key concepts. Look out for Angela Friederici.

More on the phonological loop from a ELT perspective

A plain English description of Baddeley's model of Working Memory, as well as interviews with the man himself and useful links, diagrams, etc

Jeremy's enthusiastic 'reading' of cognitive research that suggests extensive reading for pleasure and intensive reading for study are physiologically different processes. He posits that extensive reading points to 'acquisition' rather than more conscious 'learning'

Performance in a Foreign Language: The Role of Working Memory Capacity. Complex and hard-to-interpret data.

School really does affect your brain! The longer you're in school, the longer your dendrites grow!

An area for exploration?

Some truth in learning styles? Research suggests self-described visual learners more likely to convert linguistically presented information into a visual mental representation.

Skeptical about the inaccuracies in 'folk neuroscience'.

Podcast on the Bilingual Brain - children learning two languages, mapping the linguistic brain, code switching, benefits of bilingualism to the cognitive reserve

A free downloadable programme that allows you to explore a 3D representation of a human brain. Whose brain? Who knows?