Many argue that we have no motivation to learn unless it rewards us. These rewards include the physical; food, water, sex or drugs that make us feel good. These also include social rewards such as a pleasant sensation (Rolls et al. 2003), an attractive face (Aharon et al. 2001), positive words (Hamann & Mao 2002), a positive interaction with others (Rilling et al. 2002) or the gaining social status (Tooby & Cosmides, 2002).

When we experience anything, one of the dopamine pathways activated is the mesolimbic pathway, which triggers activity in the Amygdala. This structure processes the intensity of the experience and the degree to which we perceive it as a negative or positive one. If it is positive (or rewarding) it triggers the release of dopamine, which is the reward. Then the fontal lobe stores the reward value of that experience and the behaviors that led to the reward. This gets laid down in memory as incentive salience or ‘wanting’ and becomes an intrinsic motivation.

Even our most complex motivations and experiences are mediated through the lens of these primary rewards. So for example, our motivation to earn money, is in many cases motivated by the dopamine release we receive when spending it. Similarly doing work or learning we love can be traced to dopamine release arising from us perceiving it as rewarding.

This all begins to sound a lot like a combination of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and classical conditioning. These fundamental and deeply embedded behavior and reward pathways, laid down in the brain so early, likely form the blueprint for our later motivational landscape. So how can we use these blueprints to motivate adult learners? Well here are three suggestions.

1. Food reward – Remember when classroom trainers use to throw chocolates at you if you got an answer right? Well, they were spot on and despite our dietary paranoia, we should return to this practice. Chocolate contains phenylethylamine and triggers the mesolimbic dopamine pathway. So not only could we use this reward to condition a strong association between the achievement of learning and the reward of chocolate, we should also encourage the learner to eat it immediately, thus initiating the chemical release and creating incentive salience.

2.Security and safety reward – Creating an environment of safety and security, not only reduces activity in the Amygdala, rendering a situation less emotionally charged, but in mice studies it also stimulates the caudoputamen region of the brain, known to be involved in reward and motivation.

This knowledge helps us focus not only on reducing learner threats, but also on ‘coming down’ from threatening situations. So for intense training activities where participants are emotional, be sure to do a follow up activity, that re-establishes the learners in a safe space. Then the learning is laid down as a stronger memory, not only as a source of perceived threat arsing from the process, but also as a source of reward arising from the resolution or outcome.

3. Kindness reward – When people do something for someone else with no expectation of reward, be it giving them a compliment, being compassionate or pretty much any kind of altruistic behavior, it releases a number of reward neurotransmitters including oxytocins, the chemical helpful in reducing stress and bonding humans.

Knowing this we can enhance learning cohort activities to be more centred on peer-based teaching. As long as they are adequately supported in achieving the learning outcomes, then not only is the learning achieved, but it is probably more deeply embedded by the altruistic nature of its acquisition, both for the teaching peer and the learning peer. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is part of the neuroscientific basis for the enormous success of informal social learning, facilitated by the internet.

How else might we tap into the neurological processes in learners and use them to enhance memory formation and to strengthen associations between new learning and the situations that stimulate its recall and application? As always, your thoughts are welcome… really. I think my oxytocin levels are dropping because nobody out there seems to love what i’m saying. Prove me wrong people and leave a comment;)

Research by Vermeulen et al. shows that the brain responds to facial expressions denoting fear and disgust quite differently. Expressions denoting fear heighten our sensory input and increase our attention to the material immediately following the stimuls, whilst a face denoting disgust throttles our sensory input and attention.

What does this mean for adult learning? Using imagery and soundscapes it would be relatively simple to stimulate fear in learners, fear of job loss, fear of poor health and so on, then follow it up with critical information to prevent these fears being realised. As an eLearning consultant, I’ve used this technique quite often, for example using disturbing case studies as an extrinsic motivator, but never with the intent of generating fear.

What about the ethical dimensions this approach? Do the ends justify the fear? Is a good scare what learners need?

Check out this interesting research in joint attention and avatars. It examines the role of leading someones gaze with your own in stimulating the reward and motivation centres of your brain. It also shows that when you follow someone elses gaze, it stimulates those parts of your brain responsible for imagining another persons thoughts.

As a consultant I have rarely advocated the use of avatars to my clients, preferring other ways of providing mentoring/advisory scaffolding. But this could be useful in developing avatars that not only form part of the learning, but also reinforce the learning. For example, an avatar could tell a story and move its eyes to lead the learner to a visual element or key points that appear on-screen to reinforce or build upon the story. In so doing it may stimulate the learner to hear what the avatar is saying and then speculate on what the additional on-screen elements mean to the story and for them personally. In effect you could use it to activate the learners imagination.

Here’s an example. An avatar is telling a story about an accident in which a worker loses an arm in a chainsaw accident. As the story unfolds, the avatar gazes to the left and an image appears of a person looking at their watch, holding a chainsaw, with a chain guard in pieces at their feet and contemplating a stack of logs. This may stimulate the learner to reflect on what caused the logger to lose an arm. Were they under time pressure and so decided not to put the chain guard on the chainsaw?

Alternatively, the avatar could be made to simulate ‘following’ the learnrs gaze, thus stimulating the learners reward and motivation sensors. Of course without retinal tracking this would be difficult, but you may be able to fake it. Imagine a game on-screen where the avatar explains the rules of the game and then begins. In the game the learner must be the first to identify the correct object out of several on screen by clicking on it.

The avatar could gaze at the various options, making comments about their thoughts on each possible answer, revealing their interior dialogue to the learner and possibly mirroring the learners thoughts (also relevant to mirror neurons and social learning). You could delay the discovery of the right answer by the avatar, so that when the learner clicks the object, the avatar’s gaze moves to the correct object and it declares that it has found the object, but the learner found it first. This tactic may engender feelings of leadership and accomplishment in the learner.

This example is a bit trite, but you get the idea. Anyway interesting stuff. Of course it’s not just limited to eLearning. Even more powerful is the conscious use of eye contact in leading and following by classroom trainers and mentors. Many opportunities abound here.

How might you use joint attention in your learning activities?