Transcriber: Take A Mile Reviewer: Nam Nguyen Cong
I’m an entrepreneur and a neuroscientist.
My fascination with the brain began
when I was an undergraduate at Ohio State University,
and I first had access to technology
that allowed us to peer inside the brain.
At the time, I was thrilled to have access
to this state-of-the-art technology,
that opened the window onto the brain.
And I can still remember the thrill that I felt
the first time I was able to see my own brain activity
and see how it changed as I changed states of awareness.
So, even though this equipment was very cumbersome at the time
and filled up a laboratory,
I started to see then
what the future could hold
once we fully opened this window onto the brain.
And so, fifteen years ago,
my cofounders and I started a company
to develop smart wearable technologies
to enable this vision.
We wanted to move neuroscience out of the lab
into the real world.
And we’ve done it.
Currently our team partners in a wide range of research
applying these technologies,
to help develop, improve performance,
health and well-being.
One of the areas we’ve been focused on recently,
is using the insights from neuroscience
to rethink the processors of learning and gaining expertise.
Now, we know that the traditional tools
that educators, coaches and instructors use
to evaluate performance
are pretty good at telling us how we perform.
We've all taken plenty of tests.
But what our technologies do,
Is open the window on the brain
and give us information on why we perform the way we do.
So one of the things that we have been doing,
is mapping the brains of experts
across a wide range of disciplines.
We've had access to mapping the brains of Olympic archers,
expert marksman,
scientists and engineers,
PGA golf pros,
and a variety of leaders
both civilian and military.
And the goal then is to use that expert brain map
as a training, a goal for novices to achieve,
to help move their brains closer to that of an expert.
So what happens in the brain when we learn?
The cells of the brain, the neurons,
are constantly communicating
via millions of chemical and electrical signals.
When a novice begins learning a new task,
many regions of the brain light up and work together
to achieve that construction of the new neural pathway
for learning that task.
As you practice the task,
the neural pathway become strengthened
by eliminating or pruning all of the irrelevant connections
and then streamlining and strengthening that pathway,
so that when you master a skill,
it can be automatically executed.
This is the scientific basis for Erikson’s theory,
that was highlighted in Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers,”
that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a new skill.
The repetition supports,
strengthens and streamlines that neural pathway.
However, our real world research
suggests that the 10,000 hours to expertise theory
may be a myth.
We found that by training novices
to first recognize their own mental state,
and then help shape their mental state
towards that of an expert,
we could greatly reduce the overall time
required to train and gain mastery of a new technique.
So the way that we did this was first,
we wanted the trainees to be in the optimal state for learning.
And one of the things we recognized very early in our research,
was that high anxiety levels were inhibitory to new learning.
So when our sensors sensed high anxiety levels,
we trained the trainees to control their breathing and heart rate
and reduce their anxiety levels.
Then, we developed software that provided feedback training,
where we compared the novices brain to that of the expert,
and using a variety of visual, auditory and tactile feedback use,
helped them shape their brain towards that of an expert.
This is an example of an archer who’s receiving tactile feedback
through a small buzzer on his collar
that’s telling him how and when he’s achieved the expert brain state,
and we were able to move him from the intermediate state
to the expert state.
Now, in our study of three hundred individuals,
we found that 85% of people
could achieve control over their brain state
and move towards the expert state
even after just one day of training with this feedback.
And, we saw a 2.3 times acceleration,
a marksmanship skill training
in those first trained to achieve the expert brain state.
In addition, we found that by training novices
to control their mental state,
that they could move in and out of the state
when it was desirable.
And we found now that this training approach
may be applicable across a number of different skills and exercises.
So the implications for learning and how learn are profound.
One thing that we all agreed
as we’re working with coaches and educators,
both military and civilian,
is that the traditional approach to classroom training
is largely ineffective for many people.
Because students learn at different rates,
and they learn differently form different instructors
and presentation styles.
Now, using these neuroscience tools,
we can actually objectively assess
how students are learning in different environments.
And one area of particular interest is,
how do social interactions facilitate learning?
And one of the studies that we've done,
is with high school students
collaboratively solving science problems,
where we’re able to identify by monitoring their brains,
very early in the process,
whether they were going to reach a successful conclusion
in the problem solving session.
We've also been working with graduate students
and college students,
to assess what happens in social interactions
when you’re learning to solve very complex problems
and approach new tasks with new critical thinking
and creative thinking.
This is an example of a group of MBA students
collaboratively solving an ethical decision task.
And what we were able to do,
is by monitoring their brain states,
we could establish how peer to peer interactions
often lead to accelerated learning of complex skills and problem solving,
when compared with the traditional classroom environment.
We also showed in this study,
that we can identify by mapping the brain state of the team,
the emergence of leaders
and how those leaders influence the group process?
So the implications across-the-board are profound.
We envision a future,
where these technologies can be used
to accelerate evolution,
by helping us to further understand ourselves and each other.
Thank you.
(Applause)