Child Research Net Koby's Korner Learning and Creativity, A Biomedical Consideration

HOME

Resources

Presentations

Learning and Creativity, A Biomedical Consideration
Noboru Kobayashi, M.D. Director, Child Research Net

Introduction

It is generally accepted that child growth and development are based on genetic inheritance under environmental influence. In other words, the child is born as a biological being and then grows and develops as a social being. According to Young's theory, the child is born with various physical systems and programs that initiate and maintain their functions. This consideration might provide insights to consider our common concerns, namely, caring for and educating children in order to develop their creativity.

The body is a combination of cell, tissue, and organs such as the central nervous system (the neuropsychiatric system), the respiratory system, the digestive system, and other systems. A program is a set of biological codes to initiate and maintain the functions of these systems. The presence of systems is clear when growth of the body is observed during the fetal and the neonatal period. The presence of the programs is also clear when behavioral development is observed during the fetal and neonatal period, when environmental influence is almost means "nothing".

Here, a few examples can be considered. When a child is born, he/she will cry and start respiratory movement. The child cries because he/she feels something happening, that is, he/she fears the tumultuousness of the delivery process and the uneasiness of separation from the mother. This situation is not different from later crying. In the brain, there is the neuronal system to sense fear and unease, and the program activates this system by the events of delivery. At the time of the initial cry, the baby will start respiratory movement; that is, the respiratory system, the diaphragm and the other respiratory muscles start to exchange air through the airway and lungs.

We can find similar examples to show the working of such systems. The fetus shows pulsation of the heart, finger-sucking, movement of thorax similar to the respiratory movement. The neonate can also cry, imitate, and smile. These observations certainly indicate the presence of such systems and the programs.

The programs can be classified according to those that are mental and those that are physiological. The programs for physiological functions such as respiration, circulation, digestion and metabolism, can be understood without difficulty. The programs for mental activity are rather difficult to understand, since we are considering the development of consciousness during the fetal and neonatal period.

The facial expression of smiling can be observed soon after birth, indicating at least the presence of a smiling program, the hardware of facial muscles, the neuronal network of the brain and the connected nerve fibers. The stepping reflex is another interesting model to consider. The lower extremities move as if walking when the feet are stimulated during the later fetal period and also the neonatal period. This may indicate presence of the program of walking. However, this reflex disappears within one or two months, when the healthy baby starts to find it difficult to see in three-dimensional space and to support the body weight against gravity after weightlessly floating in the amniotic fluid of the mother's womb. When this reflex does not disappear, pediatricians have to rule out the possibility of brain damage. When the baby reaches 12 months or so, he/she will be able to start walking without specific instructions, that is, the program of walking is switched on again by some event or events, and also by the child's will. Furthermore, when the child enters nursery school or kindergarten, he/she starts skipping and dancing. This is done when the program of learning and other higher brain functions adds specific information to the program of walking.

It is important to watch the behavioral development of the baby regarding TV, since he/she is able to master how to operate this media tool almost spontaneously through the program of learning. Language development is similar, but the program of learning, imitating and memorizing adds spoken words to communication. These can also explain the program of learning.

The programs of the body responsible for physiological function are rather stable, as you see in respiration and circulation. However, the programs of the mind can be altered by environmental stimuli during development. I am speculating that the development of the mind is the organization of genetically determined programs for the basic units of the "mind," which appears by activating the basic unit of the neuronal network system of the brain. In other words, the brain contains numerous basic units of the neuronal network systems for each basic mental function. This consideration is supported by recent identification of behavioral genes, although it is still limited to human beings.

During the fetal and neonatal period, the basic neuronal network systems and their programs are organized by the genetic basis, and are continuously and further organized after birth by environmental stimuli, that is, information. Connection neurons, namely, synapse formation, organize the neuronal network system and their programs. The synapse is a connection site between neurons and between neuron and muscle cell, where chemical interaction occurs to transfer information.

It is important to know that the number of synapses increases sharply per unit of brain tissue until the end of infancy or the beginning of early childhood. Thereafter the number rather gradually decreases. Synapses are continually organized anew and at the same time eliminated in a "scrap and build" manner. Therefore, new synapse formation is active in the beginning of life, but later more synapses are eliminated than formed. Although the total number may increase through an increase in the brain, a dynamic change occurs locally. As a result of this process, programs that function diversely in the body during the fetal and neonatal period are centralized and become stronger under the control of the brain. This process has been well demonstrated for the programs of the body, except those with the vital function of maintaining life such as respiration and circulation. The intense stepping reflex observed in the newborn will be controlled later more by the brain when the infant starts to walk as stated above.

For the programs of the mind, we can consider a similar process. For instance, establishment of "basic trust" or formation of "a theory of the mind" can be considered to be a process that centralizes the divergent programs of the mind within the brain.

The programs are activated by information, which are classically stimuli from the environment. Information is now classified into two types: logical information and sensitive information. The logical and sensitive information interacts with each other and facilitates communication. For example, when a mother talks to her baby in a loving manner, her voice has specific tender features, among them, high pitch, intonation, and pause. These features transfer sensitive information to baby with the meaning of her words (semantics).

In teaching and education, logical information is certainly important, but sensitive information cannot be neglected, for this information imparts the "joy of living," "joy of learning" and the "joy of playing" to children. Furthermore, it is well known that the maternal deprivation syndrome or emotional deprivation syndrome will retard physical growth as well as IQ, but this is rapidly improved by tender care. This shows that sensitive information has an influence on the programs of the mind, and then on the other programs in general.

By way of introduction here, I would like to show that the development of the mind could be considered in terms of systems information theory. Each brain function that we know is manifested by activating the programs of the neuronal network system in the brain, and this activation is carried out by information. This systems-information approach provides deep insight to help us understand the learning and creativity of children.

Theme 1: The Learning Environment and its Relationship to Creativity

Children are born with the program of learning. This is clearly demonstrated by language development and also by the behavioral development of infants regarding television, which I have shown at Child Research Net, Koby's Korner. At the same time, it is important to know that the neonate can imitate facial expressions of the mother and others, such as protrusion of the tongue. This indicates that the child is born with the program of imitation. Further, the child is born as an information seeker. This is demonstrated by the behavior of the neonate when he/she calms down after the initial cry. The baby looks around as if he/she were looking for information. Fantz, an American psychologist, has demonstrated that, the larger the amount of information an object has, the longer the neonate stares it. In other words, the baby has the program of a curious mind, or the program of information-seeking. Certainly this innate program has developed information tools such as printing, telecommunications and others in human history, and of course, is supported by the programs of higher brain functions.

The important task for learning is to collect information through the sensory organs such as the eyes, ears, nose, skin and tongue. Each sensory organ has its own programs to collect information, and they very often work together. Among the sensory organs, the eyes or sense of sight is the most important since the eyes can collect the largest amount of information. The second is the ears. This point may be important for designing the learning tool.

The program of learning may not be a simple program, but rather a combination of them or a linkage of the programs of higher brain functions, such as, the programs of imitating, memorizing, believing and others. In any case, they are combined or linked soon after birth, and this is suggested by language development and the behavioral development of the infant with regard to TV. The program of memorizing plays the role of storing information in the brain. Thinking or believing is not possible if we are not able to store information in the brain since we can not refer the current information obtained to the stored one.

We have to consider the program of will, that is, the program of motivating the child to do something, but this is a difficult task to find it, since there are many unclear aspects about this. However, it is usually considered in relation to the rewarding system in the brain, and this is clearly shown in the eating behavior.

In line with the previous consideration, I would like to try to specify creativity. This can be considered a special program of thinking or learning, or both. Then, how is it possible to promote this program? In my opinion, availability of good information at home is important as cultural capital, and later at school, and of course through human networks. During infancy and early childhood, when the number of synapses increases, the child should receive much sensitive information, in particular, to maximize the number of the neuronal network systems he/she can organize. In another words, the children are able to feel the "joy of living" and "joy of playing" through the tender care of their parents, as well as nursery school or kindergarten teacher. After peaking, the number of synapses then decreases, but this is not a simple reduction, but "scrap and build" as stated before. At this stage, logical information should be emphasized as important, since network systems are selected from the abundant ones organized before, and the neuronal networks and programs are then rearranged and reorganized. The programs of creative learning and thinking are included in them.

When a person learns something with the program of creative learning, he/she starts to continuously think about a particular matter. While thinking and thinking, information about the particular matter is processed by the various related programs of mind, and finally a leap is made to the program of creative thinking and this is the insight that can be expressed as "eureka." The leap may well be a new network formation.

The existence of a genetic factor in creativity cannot be denied, since the creative person, poetically the so-called genius, is very often considered to have personality, behavioral and other difficulties. For example, Einstein was considered to be "autistic" during childhood. We know that every child cannot be a "genius," but creativity itself can be developed with the proper care and education. Without good care and education, children will not have the opportunity to develop their potential creativity.

Theme 2: A Creative Way of Using New Learning Tools

My knowledge of and experience with the application of media technology in childhood learning is limited. I personally think that technology invented by human beings is, in general, a tool to expand the programs of the body and the mind, and if we can therefore apply technology properly to children, they will be able to expand programs of their own.

Media tools can be applied in two ways: to increase the accessibility of information available at present to children, and to use these tools to promote the programs of the mind, particularly those of learning and thinking. The latter is important for children to master how to learn to learn. It is an area for further investigation by media and technology scientists.

Of course, it is necessary to consider both sensitive information and logical information when designing media tools, so children can feel the "joy of studying." In this direction, "playing" and "learning" interact with each other. It is often stated that media technology reduces interaction with nature for children. It is known that media tools are downsizing day by day and becoming mobile and wearable. In the near future, children will be able to enjoy various media tools in the field and interact with nature. In light of the changes in our society, particularly in the family and school structure, the application of media tools will increase in the next generation, and this is an area in which the educational scientist, psychologist, media technologist and other scientists interested in children will have to work together.

References:

Changeux, J. P. 1978. Neuronal Man, The Biology of Mind. Pantheon.
Kobayashi, Noboru. 1998. Children are Travelers to Future, Human Science of Education. Tokyo-Shoseki.
Perner, J. 1991. Understanding the Representational Mind. The MIT Press.
Young, J. Z. 1987. Philosophy and the Brain. Oxford University Press.
Young, J. Z. 1978. Programs of the Brain. Oxford University Press.