According to a recent research it has been proved that Eight-year-old children have a different learning strategy from twelve-year-olds and adults. While Eight-year-olds learn primarily from positive feedback such as 'Well done!', negative feedback 'Got it wrong this time' hardly effects their learning. Opposite to that Twelve-year-olds are better able to process negative feedback, and can use it to learn from their mistakes. Adults have the same ability but they do it more efficiently.
Cognitive Control in Brain
According to Dr. Eveline Crone, psychologist in Leiden Brain and Cognition Lab "Eight-year-olds respond disproportionately inaccurately to negative feedback. Dr. Crone and her colleagues performed a research named fMRI Research which shows that this difference can be observed particularly in the areas of the brain responsible for cognitive control, located in the Cerebral Cortex.
According to this research it has been demonstrated that, In children of eight and nine, these areas of the brain react strongly to positive feedback and scarcely respond at all to negative feedback. While in children of 12 and 13, and in adults, the opposite is the case. The 'Control Centers' in their brain are more strongly activated by negative feedback and much less by positive feedback.
Unique Three-Way Division
Generally in these types of experiments the comparison is generally made between children and adults. But in this experiment Dr. Crone and her colleagues made three different age groups: Children of 8 to 9 years | Children of 11 to 12 years and adults aged between 18 and 25 years. This three-way division had been made first time in such experiments.
Unexpected Results
Dr. Crone and their team were surprised at the results. According to Dr. Crone 'We had expected that the brains of eight-year-olds would function in exactly the same way as the brains of twelve-year-olds, but maybe not quite so well. Children learn the whole time, so this new knowledge can have major consequences for people wanting to teach children: how can you best relay instructions to eight- and twelve-year-olds?' '
Experiment
In the experiment, the children of both age groups and adults aged 18 to 25 were engaged in a computer task while they lay in the MRI scanner. The task was about to discover rules. If they did this correctly, a tick appeared on the screen, otherwise a cross appeared. During this test MRI scans captured records of which parts of the brain were activated.
Learning From Mistakes Is Difficult
After this experiment Dr. Crone was able to compare the fMRI results with the existing knowledge about child development. It has been known that "Young children respond better to reward than to punishment." Therefore It is sure that, Learning from mistakes is more complex and difficult than carrying on in the same way as before.
Still Some Unanswered Questions
While this experiment is very significant regarding the development of children, there are some unanswered questions till now. Such as "This difference between eight- and twelve-year-olds the result of experience, or does it have to do with the way the brain develops? Some researchers say it a combination of the brain maturing and experience. May be some time in future this questions will be solved by any such research.
Cognitive Control in Brain
According to Dr. Eveline Crone, psychologist in Leiden Brain and Cognition Lab "Eight-year-olds respond disproportionately inaccurately to negative feedback. Dr. Crone and her colleagues performed a research named fMRI Research which shows that this difference can be observed particularly in the areas of the brain responsible for cognitive control, located in the Cerebral Cortex.
According to this research it has been demonstrated that, In children of eight and nine, these areas of the brain react strongly to positive feedback and scarcely respond at all to negative feedback. While in children of 12 and 13, and in adults, the opposite is the case. The 'Control Centers' in their brain are more strongly activated by negative feedback and much less by positive feedback.
Unique Three-Way Division
Generally in these types of experiments the comparison is generally made between children and adults. But in this experiment Dr. Crone and her colleagues made three different age groups: Children of 8 to 9 years | Children of 11 to 12 years and adults aged between 18 and 25 years. This three-way division had been made first time in such experiments.
Unexpected Results
Dr. Crone and their team were surprised at the results. According to Dr. Crone 'We had expected that the brains of eight-year-olds would function in exactly the same way as the brains of twelve-year-olds, but maybe not quite so well. Children learn the whole time, so this new knowledge can have major consequences for people wanting to teach children: how can you best relay instructions to eight- and twelve-year-olds?' '
Experiment
In the experiment, the children of both age groups and adults aged 18 to 25 were engaged in a computer task while they lay in the MRI scanner. The task was about to discover rules. If they did this correctly, a tick appeared on the screen, otherwise a cross appeared. During this test MRI scans captured records of which parts of the brain were activated.
Learning From Mistakes Is Difficult
After this experiment Dr. Crone was able to compare the fMRI results with the existing knowledge about child development. It has been known that "Young children respond better to reward than to punishment." Therefore It is sure that, Learning from mistakes is more complex and difficult than carrying on in the same way as before.
Still Some Unanswered Questions
While this experiment is very significant regarding the development of children, there are some unanswered questions till now. Such as "This difference between eight- and twelve-year-olds the result of experience, or does it have to do with the way the brain develops? Some researchers say it a combination of the brain maturing and experience. May be some time in future this questions will be solved by any such research.
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