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Chapter One
Learning: Comparative theoretical models
13
manner to him, it is equally true that in the course of this commit-
ment he receives a plurality of stimulation from the environment that
will determine organisational and cognitive answers, increasingly
complex, or more advanced and better articulated mental processes.
It is in relation to the functional plasticity of the brain that the learn-
ing processes acquire new connotations.
A biological connotation becomes essential as a precondition for any
cognitive relationship.
A cultural connotation is emerging as a privileged path for the devel-
opment of the thought that, from culturally organised systems, brings
about new contents for the processing of new ideas.
The study of the learning processes, therefore, cannot disregard a
brief knowledge of the most basic aspects of the brain structure and
its levels of transmissive functionality of the information.
This should, however, take into account the cultural dimension of the
environment in which the subject is immersed.
The environment, in fact, becomes the creator of a series of educa-
tional processes that, transmitting new learning and new paradigms
of reference, tend to modify specific and different responses of the
individuals, influencing their behaviour.
Thanks to the new contributions of the cognitive neuroscience, to-
day we have new instruments to be applied in the field of education.
We have anticipated, as in the life of every individual, genetic initial
endowment and experiences that interact to allow the development.
Our brain is structured and restructured by the interactions with the
social and natural environment, and this process affects future learn-
ing.
In the cognitive process, a key role is played by emotions, whose in-
fluence actively involves several areas of the brain: neuroscience has
established a strong link between emotional and cognitive dimen-
sions, so it is clear and obvious that an education system dealing with
the cognitive development of the child must necessarily deal also
with his emotional development. Neuroscience demonstrates how
our brain develops through interactions with others. In this regard,
the discovery of the
mirror neurons
helps us to understand this link
between the cognitive dimension and the emotional dimension: mir-
ror neurons are brain cells that activate either when we perform an
action or when we see someone else who performs it; they help us
to understand immediately what the person in front of us is doing