It's official. Neuroscientists have revealed that true engagement in learning is like sex. It stirs the pleasure centres of the brain, so that "having had the experience, you want to have it again."
Here is what they say:
"Of the many triggers that motivate people to learn, including the desire for approval and recognition, one of the most (if not the most) powerful is the illumination which comes from understanding. The brain responds very well to this, which happens for instance during the 'eureka' moment, when the brain suddenly makes connections and sees patterns between the available information.
"It is the most intense pleasure the brain can experience, at least in a learning context," the OECD's seminal publication continues, "so that it can be described as an 'intellectual orgasm'."
The researchers recommend that: "A primary goal of early education should be to ensure that children have this 'experience' as early as possible and so become aware of how pleasurable learning can be."
This is beginning to make me feel uncomfortable, and I am thinking about ringing child protection - but of course I know exactly what they mean. Anyone reading this will know the delight, the rightness, of that "eureka" moment, when something just "clicks", when you suddenly "get it", when everything falls together.
It's not surprising when, in My Fair Lady, Higgins, Pickering and Eliza all burst into song in their joy that "By George, she's got it!" when the flower girl finally pronounces: "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain".
The OECD's publication, Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science, is the culmination of a seven-year, multi-faceted study of how the brain learns throughout life. The development of new brain imaging technologies has made it possible to pin down information that could previously only be inferred - rather in the way that DNA technology can identify a murderer.
For those of us no longer in our early years, it brings encouraging news. The brain may slow down, but new neurons and synapses grow throughout life. The maxim should not be "you can't teach an old dog new tricks", but "use it or lose it". In fact, science is beginning to identify learning interventions which can help defer or delay age-related dementia.
Modern neurobiology provides insights into how literacy is acquired, proves that dyslexia and dyscalculia are real and shows what they look like on brain images, and why learning a language is easier the younger one is. It provides scientific evidence that the ancient Romans were right - we should strive for a sound mind in a sound body.
The brain is "plastic" and able to adapt in response to environmental demands. What and how children learn - along with social environment and interactions, nutrition, exercise and sleep - physically changes the brain. "This calls for holistic approaches which recognise the close interdependence of physical and intellectual well-being and the close interplay of the emotional and cognitive".
And the ancient Greeks were right, too: "Over two thousand years ago Plato declared 'all learning has an emotional base'," says the report, "but only recently has evidence started to accumulate to show that our emotions do re-sculpt our neural tissue."
Like all technological advances, the new neuro-imaging can be harnessed for good or ill. It could be used to identify individuals' learning characteristics, and so enhance personalisation. But the authors warn: "at the same time it may also lead to even more powerful devices for selection and exclusion than are currently available."
Think of the opening of Brave New World, in which new-born babies are brainwashed to be satisfied with their lot in life ("I'm so glad I'm a gamma and not an alpha…") They are right to point this out.
Understanding the Brain is a well-written and enlightening book, a pleasure to read even for scientific gammas. It illuminates the reading debate, shows how further research could reveal how much maths the non-specialist really needs, and helps to explain what the structure of the teenage brain could mean for curriculum, school opening hours and provisional driving licenses.
