Evolution of the Learning Brain

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.

Paul Howard-Jones is Professor of Neuroscience and Education at the School of Education, University of Bristol. He is a cognitive neuroscientist, educational expert and broadcaster.

List of Figures Acknowledgements Chapter 1. The Idea of Evolution Chapter 2. Origins Chapter 3. The Vertebrate Brain Chapter 4. The Social Primate Chapter 5. Homo - Social Cooperative Learners Chapter 6. Speech Chapter 7. The Arrival of Numeracy Chapter 8. The Emergence of the Written Word Chapter 9. Evolution Meets Education Chapter 10. The Future of the Learning Brain References