Evolution of the Learning Brain

This fascinating book tells the emerging story of how learning has evolved. It provides a fresh perspective on the nature of human learning and on the educational implications today of a biological history that stretches across 600 million years.

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How does learning transform us biologically?

What learning processes do we share with bacteria, jellyfish and monkeys?

Is technology impacting on our evolution and what might the future hold for the learning brain?

These are just some of the questions Paul Howard-Jones explores on a fascinating journey through 3.5 billion years of brain evolution, and discovers what it all means for how we learn today.

Along the way, we discover






how the E. coli in our stomachs learn to find food
why a little nap can help bees find their way home
the many ways that action, emotion and social interaction have shaped our ability to learn
the central role of learning in our rise to top predator.

An accessible writing style and numerous illustrations make Evolution of the Learning Brain an enthralling combination of biology, neuroscience and educational insight. Howard-Jones provides a fresh perspective on the nature of human learning that is exhaustively researched, exploring the implications of our most distant past for twenty-first-century education.