Published Monday, October 11, 2004
Damasio Kicks Off 'Usable Knowledge' Conference
By David Cárdenas
APPIAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Twenty years after Hobbes Professor of Cognition and Education Howard Gardner proposed the theory of multiple intelligences, neuroscience is now uncovering very solid proof of its existence.

Renowned brain researcher Antonio Damasio of the University of Iowa joined Gardner last Wednesday to discuss the intersections of neuroscience, psychology and education, as part of the Mind, Brain and Education Program’s “Building Usable Knowledge” Conference. 

Addressing a large audience at Askwith Lecture Hall, Damasio shared his thoughts, ideas and findings in an open, conversational, town hall-type discussion moderated by Gardner.  

Damasio emphasized the significance of understanding the links between cognitive science and education, particularly for those in education who’ve traditionally resorted to developing curriculum on pedagogical techniques based on little or extremely limited psychological input instead.  These common sense approaches therefore lacked substantive results. The conference website refers to such approaches -- like the "brain-based education" movement -- as "at best useless and at worst pernicious."

Recent breakthroughs have helped the educational community better understand the relationship between the brain and the mind.

Damasio indicated that part of the mind’s purpose is to “regulate” the brain.  Central to this regulation is not only “survival,” but “survival with well-being,” as well.  He highlighted that the brain is the master controller of economy of organisms, and that it can actually become “physically” ill within human body, if the mind is not well.

The importance of understanding the significance of correlations between mind and brain was clearly illustrated by Damasio’s example of a research study on emotional and social conduct disorders in adults. 

The study revealed that children who’ve suffered lesions or wounds in a particular region of the brain exhibit extreme anti-social behavior deviations well into adulthood, viewed as partial variations seen in psychopaths.

Damasio indicated that the study discovered a significant and profound effect on the child’s “social functioning” abilities, and more so if the physical trauma occurs within the first five or so years of age, and as early as two.  Adults and young adults with these lesions are capable of at least “being aware” that they are breaking the rules, whereas a child with these lesions will permanently remain unable to master or learn proper social behavior.

Both researchers acknowledged the complexity and multi-level organizations of our brains.  A child’s diet, state of mind, school environment, and stability of home environment also influence learning.

In the end, Damasio shared his now widely held belief that learning occurs within interactions of several million neurons, enzymes, and synapses that can be triggered and altered upon subsequent stimulations.   

The Damasio-Gardner talk, which was open to the public, preceded an invitation-only international scientific conference on the mind, brain and education.       

David Cárdenas is an Ed.M. candidate at HGSE in the Mind, Brain and Education program