Humans are inherently emotional creatures due to our social nature, and emotions are able to influence how well we learn and even affect academic outcomes. Emotions are rarely a chief concern in educational settings, and we will discuss the mechanisms underlying how emotions are processed in the brain and how they influence the key aspects of…

Humans accumulate knowledge throughout their entire lives. In what ways does this accumulation of knowledge influence learning of new information? Are there age-related differences in the way prior knowledge is leveraged for remembering new information? We review studies that have investigated these questions, focusing on those that have used the…

Obtaining adequate understanding of scientific concepts is considered challenging due to learners' misconceptions about natural phenomena. Misconceptions may coexist with scientific knowledge in the brain. Therefore, misconceptions must be cognitively inhibited in order to select the scientific knowledge. There is, however, lack of substantial…

Learning counterintuitive scientific concepts can be difficult for students because they often have misconceptions about natural phenomena that lead them to commit errors. Recent studies showed that students with advanced scientific training recruit brain regions associated with inhibitory control and memory retrieval to avoid committing errors…

Despite widespread consensus among educators that "active learning" leads to better outcomes than comparatively passive forms of instruction, it is often unclear why these benefits arise. In this article, we review research showing that the opportunity to control the information experienced while learning leads to improved memory…

The encoding, consolidation, and retrieval of events and facts form the basis for acquiring new skills and knowledge. Prior knowledge can enhance those memory processes considerably and thus foster knowledge acquisition. But prior knowledge can also hinder knowledge acquisition, in particular when the to-be-learned information is inconsistent with…

Episodic prospection is the ability to mentally simulate personal future events that are rich in contextual detail and plausible for the individual. It therefore incorporates episodic information (who, what, where, and when of a particular event), as well as details about one's self (e.g., knowledge, goals, motivations and desires). The ability to…

Understanding how the arts can enhance learning has long been discussed and debated among educators, students, parents, artists, art historians, and philosophers. Many anecdotal examples reference the value and benefits of the arts in a range of fields and learning domains. Emerging methodologies in the brain sciences have added new perspectives…

Genetics contributes importantly to learning abilities and disabilities--not just to reading, the target of most genetic research, but also to mathematics and other academic areas as well. One of the most important recent findings from quantitative genetic research such as twin studies is that the same set of genes is largely responsible for…