Neural Bottom-up and Top-down Processes in Learning and Teaching

Abstract

Contemporary neuroscience perspectives on cognition allow for detailed understanding of the co-activity of unconscious, automatic 'bottom-up' processes and conscious 'topdown' processes. In this theoretical article I argue that by using direct experiences or metaphors, teachers can manipulate the neural foundation bottom-up or topdown so as to influence learning, giving teachers the conceptual tools they need to understand how specific measures - instructional and experiential teaching, as well as linguistic explanations - may work. The article thus describes how embodied cognitive approaches may be effective for teaching and learning and thus contribute to a new exchange between theoreticians and educational practitioners.

Keywords

• Neural correlate
• concept
• metaphor
• direct experience
• attention
• top-down