Newsletter – 23 July 2021

Last week, I shared research about how we can expand our learning by listening to our sensations, senses and gut instincts. This week, I will share some research about how we can enhance our learning with movement.

A host of studies indicate that when we move our bodies in certain ways, we are able to think more intelligently. Much of this has an evolutionary basis because as hunter gatherers, early humans needed to be able to think and track animals and their movements, while still mustering the energy to outrun them! To this day, movement and thinking are still intertwined in our biological makeup. However in the last few hundred years, modern society has ‘incorrectly’ learnt to associate being still with ‘good’ learning and being more focused. A 2018 German study utilising brain scanning technology, shows that our cognitive load considerably increases when we try not to move. Resisting our biological inclination to move draws energy from our pre frontal cortex which we use to perform challenging mental tasks.

Intense physical movement has also been found to be associated with a better cognitive performance. A moderate amount of moderate intensity movement improves our ability to think during and immediately after the activity. Documented scientific studies show moderate movement gives us:

• an increased ability to focus attention and resist distraction
• greater verbal fluency and cognitive flexibility
• enhanced problem solving and decision making abilities
• increased working memory
• a more durable long-term memory

This beneficial effect has been shown to last for up to two hours after the moderate exercise ends. Further research shows that when kids return from the playground at school, they are better able to focus their attention and engage their executive brain functions. Hence, regular movement breaks during the school day support effective learning.

In contrast, high intensity exercise encourages a different type of thinking. It has been shown to create a kind of ‘void’ in the frontal region of our brain which allows creative thought and ideas to mingle and thrive. This does not occur at lower and moderate intensity exercise but if it’s creative, unstructured thinking you are seeking, a high intensity workout is the way to go! Further, following a meandering path when moving rather than a fixed and rigid one may further enhance your creative thinking.

My next point is that learning during movement aids recall of information. If the new learning is associated with a movement, it is better remembered when we reproduce that movement. It has been shown that even forming the intention to make the movement seems to ‘tag’ the information with a mental marker in our brains. Maybe this is why it helps to retrace our movements when we are trying to recall something or why we can memorise lines in a play better when we step them out? One study showed that students who incorporated movement into their learning remembered 76% of material, as opposed to students relying only on memorisation, who recalled 37% of the information. Another study into young children who acted out sentences from their reading found that they doubled their reading comprehension and were able to make more inferences about the text! 

There is so much research indicating that movement significantly aids learning. Try incorporating movement into learning at home or at work to see if it helps your recall of facts or thinking.

Next week, I will talk about how gesture supports learning.

Reference: ‘The Extended Mind : The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain’ – Annie Murphy Paul (Houghton, Mifflin Harcourt, 2021).