Power of Play

Research shows that people learn best from experiences that are joyful, that meaningfully connect the play to their lives, actively engaging, allow repetitive testing, and are socially interactive. You won’t always get all 5 of them at the same time, but sometimes the stars align!

Each component helps weave a strong and flexible tapestry of neural connections. We use what we discover to not only adapt the structure of our brains, but also strengthen the skills we need to continue being engaged, flexible learners for our whole lives.

Let’s Take a moment to break each of these 5 components:

Emotions are integral to neural networks responsible for learning. Joy is associated with increased dopamine levels in the brain’s reward system linked to enhanced memory, attention, mental shifting, creativity, and motivation

Making connections between familiar and unfamiliar stimuli guides the brain in making effortful learning easier. Meaningful experiences introduce novel stimuli linking to existing mental frameworks; processing these stimuli recruits networks in the brain associated with analogical thinking, memory, transfer, metacognition, creating insight, motivation and reward

Active and engaged involvement increases brain activation related to agency, decision making, and flow. Active engagement enhances memory encoding and retrieval processes that support learning. Full engagement in an activity allows the brain to exercise networks responsible for executive control skills, such as pushing out distractions, that benefit short term and lifelong learning.

Perseverance associated with repetitive thinking is linked to reward and memory networks that underpin learning. With practice, iteration increasingly engages networks related to taking alternative perspectives, flexible thinking, and creativity

Social interaction activates brain networks related to detecting the mental states of others, which can be critical for teaching and learning interactions. Such interactions improve skills such as language acquisition, cooperation, and social learning.

You are never too old to learn! Which means you should never stop playing!

Misha

**Note: Much of this article was taken from “Neuroscience and learning through play: a review of the evidence” by Claire Liu, S. Lynneth Solis, Hanne Jensen, Emily Hopkins, Dave Neale, Jennifer Zosh, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, & David Whitebread (2017).