Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbam here with another classic episode for you. This one deals with some literal brain stuff. The human brain is still pretty mysterious and misunderstandings about it abound, even in people who work with brains all the time. Today's episode covers some of the most believed myths about
our brains. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren fogelbam Here. Considering the popularity of brain teasers and brain training apps, you think that people would know quite a bit about the brain's role in education. But according to a recent study, the general public and even educators have a hard time squashing
misconceptions about the brain and learning. For instance, many of the research participants believed that students brains shrink without sufficient water and the kids are less attentive after devouring sugary treats. Both of these statements are totally false, by the way. The brains behind the study, published in the Journal for Tears of Psychology, gave a survey featuring thirty two true or false brain related statements to three different groups of people, educators,
the general public, and people with high neuroscience exposure. That is, those who had taken many college level neuroscience courses. Of those thirty two statements, the researchers focused on seven common myths that stem from what they call single explanatory factors, that's ones that reduce the complexity of human behavior to a single explanation. Those seven myths are the following, and note these are total myths. One that individuals learn better
when they receive information in their preferred learning style. Two that children have learning styles that are dominated by particular senses. Three that a common sign of dyslexia is seeing letters backwards. Four that listening to classical music increases children's reasoning ability. Five that children are less attentive after consuming sugary drinks
and or snacks. Six that some of us are left brained and some are right brained, and that this helps explain differences in learning, and seven that we only use ten percent of our brain. Of the three thousand and forty five general public respondents, an average of sixty eight percent believed these brain myths. Fifty percent of the five hundred and ninety educators surveyed believed in them, and forty percent of the two hundred and thirty four neuroscience exposed
group believed that they were true. Some of the most commonly held misconceptions among these seven or those about learning styles, dyslexia, and classical music's affect on reasoning. Let's unpack a couple of those. There's a theory about learning styles called VAC, visual, auditory, and kinesthetic a k a. Tactile. The VAC theory suggests that students have a primary way of grasping information visually, auditorially, or kinesthetically. The myth is that some students may not
learn as effectively if their style is not emphasized. Of public respondents believed this myth. Addition to seventy of teachers and seventy eight percent of people educated in neuroscience, and of the participating educators believed in the mozartifact the idea that kids spatial reasoning skills improve when they tune into classical music. However, these myths both hit sour notes. Research
does not corroborate these beliefs. The researchers did find that having a graduate degree, taking neuroscience courses, having exposure to peer reviewed science, and being younger all helped when it came to telling neuroscience fact from fiction. But those factors
didn't completely help. Lead study author Lauren McGrath said an a press release, the myths that respondence with neuroscience experience believed were related to learning and behavior and not the brain, so their training in neuroscience doesn't necessarily translate to topics
in psychology or education. Since many school districts put time and resources towards peggogical techniques based on these myths, the researchers suggest that this study may help neuroscience and educators work together to come up with cross disciplinary training modules that provide more accurate information and thus better education for our students and better understanding of ourselves. Today's episode is based on the article Even Educators Believe Common Myths about
learning study shows on how staff works dot com. Written by Shelley Danzy. The brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler clang A. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.