1. Can evidence-based education do more
harm than good?
How to deal with myths in education
OVERVIEW ON NEUROMYTHS
REASONS
INTEREST

2. • Rauscher, Shaw, Ky, 1993:
• effects of listening Mozart
Sonata for Two Pianos in D
Major (K.448)
• on adult spatial capacities
• 8-9 points increase on IQ scale
• Short term effects
• Failed to be confirmed by other
laboratories

3. The central finding of the present paper
however, is certainly the noticeably higher
overall effect in studies performed by
Rauscher and colleagues than in studies
performed by other researchers, indicating
systematically moderating effects of lab
affiliation. On the whole, there is little
evidence left for a specific, performanceenhancing Mozart effect. (Pietschnig, et
al, 2010)

4. Mr. Miller, a Democrat, proposed as part of his $12.5 billion
state budget on Tuesday to spend $105,000 to make music
available to each of the approximately 100,000 children born
in Georgia each year.
‘‘No one questions that listening to music at a very early age
affects the spatial, temporal reasoning that underlies math
and engineering and even chess,'' the Governor said today.
''Having that infant listen to soothing music helps those
trillions of brain connections to develop.’

6. Origins of neuromyths
1. Distortions of scientific facts, undue
simplifications
2. Offspring of scientific hypotheses that
have been held true for a while, and
then abandoned because of the
emergence of new evidence
3. Use of scientific jargon with no
scientific reference, even loose

7. Specialization of the hemispheres
“Equilibration of the
hemisperes”, as in Brain Gym

8. Origins of neuromyths
1. Distortions of scientific facts, undue
simplifications
2. Offspring of scientific hypotheses that
have been held true for a while, and
then abandoned because of the
emergence of new evidence
3. Use of scientific jargon with no
scientific reference, even loose

9. Sensible periods for the development
of specific functions
Synaptogenesis in early development
Hyper-stimulation before 3 years

10. Origins of neuromyths
1. Distortions of scientific facts, undue
simplifications
2. Offspring of scientific hypotheses that
have been held true for a while, and
then abandoned because of the
emergence of new evidence
3. Use of scientific jargon with no
scientific reference, even loose

11. Brain imaging shows only some
spots as “active”
Crap: from spoon benders to ESP

12. Other myths
Brain muscle
Plastic brain
Baby (techno)-mutants

13. Definition of neuromyth
Loosely
inspired to
neuroscientific fact
and theoriess
False belief
Expressed in
a scientific
jargon
Resilient to
available
knowledge

14. Other scientific myths
Other scientific myths

15. Urban legends
•
•
Stories that stick
– Concern people
– Have mystery
– Involve the search for
causes
– Are emotional
– Have a moral
(Why not using them in
education?)

16. Illusions
•
•
•
•
•
Systematic
Robust
Perceptual and cognitive
phenomena
That provoke surprise
Because they conflict with
evidence/other appraisals of
reality

17. Characteristics of neuromyths
•
•
•
A. Neuromyths have a special relationship
with the science of the brain
– develop in a climate of neurophilia: the
appetite for brain facts
– develop in a period of development of
brain research
B. are diffused and resilient to change
C. are affected by explicit instruction about
myths

18. The risk of Neuromyths
OVERVIEW ON NEUROMYTHS
REASONS
INTEREST

19. Reasons
1. Communication shortcomings
a. Placebic information
b. Sensationalism
c. Missing information
Longer explanations
Langer et al 1978

20. Placebic information
The adolescent brain
Localization of functions

21. 1. Communication
shortcomings
a. Placebic information
b. Sensationalism
c. Missing information

22. Sensationalism
There are many hypotheses in science, which
are wrong, that’s perfectly on right, that’s the
opportunity of finding out what’s right.
Science is a self-correcting process. For being
accepted, ideas must survive the most
rigorous standards of evidence and scrutiny.
(Carl Sagan: Cosmos)
Persistence in memory of
false information
Seifert 2002

23. 1. Communication
shortcomings
a. Placebic information
b. Sensationalism
c. Missing information

24. Missing information
Expert images & the polaroid effect

25. The neuroscience studies that we see in the news are regularly accompanied by
pictures of the brain, showing colorfully "glowing" bits of neural tissue.
As humans, we are highly visual creatures, accustomed to relying on the fact that
what we see is actually happening in the world.
Looking at these brain pictures often gives us the feeling that we have a window into
the brain and that we can actually see what the brain is doing. But this is simply not
accurate. An fMRI scanner is not a window or even a microscope; the output that it
provides is not really a picture of the brain, at least not in the way that the output of a
camera is a picture of a face. (Weisberg 2008)

26. Reasons
2. Neurophilia and the promotion of
private agendas
• Public interest
• Newspapers, projects &
reports
• Private agendas
• Commercial products
• Proliferation of neuro-labels

27. Reasons
3. Cognitive illusions and biases
• Soothing function
• Optimistic cognitive illusions
• Confirmation bias
• Correlation/causation illusions
• Familiarity/Availability bias
• Source amnesia

28. Confirmation bias
Correlation & causation illusions

30. Familiarity/Availability/Repre
sentativity biases
Source memory/amnesia

31. The risk of Neuromyths
OVERVIEW ON NEUROMYTHS
REASONS
INTEREST

32. Diffusion
• Few studies about the
diffusion of neuromyths
among educators
• But at least two flawed
approaches are
diffused, which
incorporate neuromyths
– Brain Gym
– VAK Learning Styles

34. Brain gym

35. VAK learning styles

37. • Ethical implications
(because of the
encounter between
science and applications)
– Money spent on phony
interventions = money not
spent on effective
interventions
– Interference with the
understanding of the real
processes
– Misuse of science
• Cognitive implications
– Like illusions and other
misconceptions, neuromyt
hs reveal the functioning of
our mind
– when we come in contact
with applied science