Research Shows We Learn
More Using All Our Senses. Movement,
Gesturing and Seeing Images Increase learning of Vocabulary Words
I have been teaching using the principles of Optimum Learning
Theory my entire career. Optimum Learning Theory says if you use all your
senses while learning you learn more quickly and retain the information. That
is why in all my programs on body language I have the audience move, get up out
their chairs and practice the techniques of good body language. Recent research
shows that when learners gesture new vocabulary words they could remember it
better.
Here is that finding in the research.
Here is that finding in the research.
In the second experiment, they symbolically drew the
corresponding word in the air or expressed it with a gesture. The researchers
then checked whether the participants could still recall the term at different
times after the learning period. "The subjects' recollection was
best in relation to terms they themselves had expressed using gestures. When
they heard the term and its translation and also observed a corresponding
image, they were also better able to remember the translation.
Here is the entire research study findings.
February 5, 2015
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
"Atesi" -- what sounds like a
word from the Elven language of Lord of the Rings is actually a Vimmish word
meaning "thought". Scientists have used Vimmish, an artificial
language specifically developed for scientific research, to study how people
can best memorize foreign-language terms. According to the researchers, it is
easier to learn vocabulary if the brain can link a given word with different
sensory perceptions.
Pictures
facilitate learning: our brain remembers the words.
Credit: MPI f.
Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences/ v. Kriegstein
"Atesi" -- what sounds like a
word from the Elven language of Lord of the Rings is actually a Vimmish word
meaning "thought." Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human
Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig have used Vimmish, an artificial
language specifically developed for scientific research, to study how people
can best memorize foreign-language terms. According to the researchers, it is
easier to learn vocabulary if the brain can link a given word with different
sensory perceptions. The motor system in the brain appears to be especially
important: When someone not only hears vocabulary in a foreign language, but
expresses it using gestures, they will be more likely to remember it. Also
helpful, although to a slightly lesser extent, is learning with images that
correspond to the word. Learning methods that involve several senses, and in
particular those that use gestures, are therefore superior to those based only
on listening or reading. For most students, the very thought of learning
new vocabulary evokes a groan. Rote learning of long lists of words must surely
be one of the most unpopular types of schoolwork. That said, many schools and
language courses have now understood that learning outcomes improve if
vocabulary, for example, is presented not just as a word, but also as an image.
The multisensory learning theory states that the brain learns more easily when
several senses are stimulated in parallel.
The results obtained by the Leipzig-based researchers confirm
this. For their study the scientists used Vimmish, an artificial language they
developed themselves, which follows similar phonetic rules to Italian. This
ensured that the vocabulary was equally new to all participants. Over the
course of a week, young women and men were to memorize the meaning of abstract
and concrete Vimmi-nouns under different conditions. In the first experiment,
the subjects heard the word and then observed a corresponding image or a
gesture. In the second experiment, they symbolically drew the corresponding
word in the air or expressed it with a gesture. The researchers then checked
whether the participants could still recall the term at different times after
the learning period.
"The subjects' recollection was best in relation to terms
they themselves had expressed using gestures. When they heard the term and its
translation and also observed a corresponding image, they were also better able
to remember the translation. By contrast, however, tracing a term or observing
a gesture was no better than just hearing the term," explains Katja Mayer
of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences. The way a
term was learned was even reflected in the subjects' brain activity. In this
way, areas of the brain responsible for the motor system were active when a
subject translated a term previously learned through gesture, while areas of
the visual system were active in the case of words learned with the help of
images.
This suggests that the brain learns foreign words more easily when
they are associated with information from different sensory organs. It may be
that these associations are mutually reinforcing, imprinting the
source-language term and its translation more deeply in the mind. "If for
example we follow a new term with a gesture, we create additional input that
facilitates the brain's learning," says Katharina von Kriegstein, head of
the study at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences.
The scientists now want to discover whether the activity in the motor and
visual centres is actually the cause of the improved learning outcomes. They
plan to do this by activating the neurons in these regions using electrodes and
measuring the impact on learning outcomes.
It is not only in learning vocabulary that the multisensory
principle applies; other studies have shown that multisensory input also
facilitates word recognition in the subject's own language. "If we're on
the phone with someone we know, for example, the areas of the brain responsible
for facial recognition are active during the phone call. It seems that the brain
simulates the information not being captured by the eyes and creates it for
itself," explains von Kriegstein.
Thus, we learn with all our senses. Taste and smell also have a
role in learning, and feelings play an important part too. But does
multisensory learning work according to the principle: the more senses, the
better? "That could well be so," says von Kriegstein, "but we
don't know how much the learning outcomes improve with the addition of more
senses. Ideally, however, the individual sensory impressions should match one
another. In other words, to learn the Spanish word for apple, the subject
should make an apple gesture, taste an apple or look at a picture of an
apple."
Story
Source:
The
above story is based on materials provided
by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Note:
Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal
Reference:
1. Katja M.
Mayer, Izzet B. Yildiz, Manuela Macedonia, Katharina von Kriegstein.Visual
and motor cortices differentially support the translation of foreign language
words. Current Biology, 5 February 2015
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.
"Learning with all the senses: Movement, images facilitate vocabulary
learning." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 5 February 2015.
.
