MY NEW SELF
That was a day in the classroom* when I could not recognise myself.
I was firing on all fronts: my thinking was sharp; my prior knowledge and experiences could not be easier to reach; I felt challenged by the task and I was fully engaged with it. I wanted my team to be the best and I was pushing the team mates to ensure the win. This wasn’t my regular self and I was curious, and probably a little worried, about this new competitive and persistent side of myself.
If you were to ask me to describe my typical learning style, it couldn’t be further from what I have just described. More often I am a cognitive learner, taking time to think, digest and establish patterns so that I clear locate the position for the newly learned skill. Habitually, I refrain from actions or answers unless I am sure which, let’s be honest, could also be a result of my perfectionist and overachieving personality. On that day, I felt and acted differently. I couldn’t stop wondering what triggered this deviation from my typical behaviour. Could this be a pattern or a single occurrence? Upon the reflection, I realized that all parameters of that learning context were similar to my prior experiences apart from one: I was playing a game. This realization made me curious and I waned to understand the mechanism behind such rapid and obvious change.
THE DISCOVERY
The discovery stunned me. As it turns my transformation was caused by an affective state induced by the game. An affective or an emotional state refers to a short-term response to external or internal stimuli and the current research of neuroscience unquestionably agrees that games are inherently charged with emotions [1]. Aparently, games offer players a concoction of feeling challenged, experiencing high levels of excitement and navigating the new context which, when put together, immerse players into the state flow[3]. Flow can be described as a state of effortless concentration where a person loses a sense of self and the passage of time [1]. This is the state when our limbic (emotional) brain takes over the behavior.
This yields multiple benefits for the learning. Firstly, working through a hormonal stimulation the emotional state drives attention and memory [2]. This is particularly important for longevity, retention and recalling of knowledge as emotions ensure quick handover from short-term to long-term memory. Secondly, affective states increase concentration due to a fear of possible failure and sharpens the cognitive ability as we find ourselves in a new situation. This causes our neural pathways to fire faster and that is the reason why we often experience decreased motivation as the novelty of playing wears out. [2]
At the same time, emotional states can be also detrimental to cognitive abilities and create behavioral blockages. Most often our cerebral cortex (the rational brain) keeps the emotions under control [2]. It can be said that the cortex is an advanced version of the brain, the brain 3.0, that we acquired through a course of evolution steering through reptilian and limbic stages of brain development [1,2,4]. As these earlier versions are still functioning at their reduced capacity to the present day, they often respond to the environmental stimuli using interpretation mechanisms available and known to them. In other words, using somewhat imperfect mechanisms. For example, a sudden stimulus of unfamiliar noises could be misconstued as danger and instigate fight-or-flight or fear whilst in reality the noise is just a plastic bag stuck in a fence. For these reasons, the rational brain needs to be given a chance to step into the situation, reevaluate and correct the decisions made by its earlier editions.
Though cortex is a relatively accurate system for decision making, it is also much slower and requires time to process and deliver decisions. Whilst limbic and reptilian brains respond faster to the stimuli, as we have seen they often deliver inaccurate verdicts and interfearing with rational decision-making. The skill of balancing emotional and rational brains is called emotional intelligence which can preempt the emotional hijack and give time for a rational brain to kick in [4]. That is why controlling impulsive decisions or, as we say, ‘sleeping on it’, is an effective strategy to save us from possible trouble caused by the primitive versions of ourselves.
THE LEARNING
Returning to the issue of learning games, it is important to strike a balance between rational and emotional states and incorporate control measures into the game design. Based on my experience I can think of several such features. To start with, the game facilitator must be confident and clear with the game instructions leaving no room for misinterpretation or confusion amongst learners. S/he must actively manage the playing by spotting and stopping the misbehaviors in such a way that it doesn’t create a negative footprint on the overall learning experience. Furthermore, such mechanisms as peer control or group work help with handling the emotional hijack and creating individual (peer) accountability in a group context. Lastly, a proper timing of various parts of the game can also help to activate flow and allow timing for reflection.
To conclude, games are a fantastic mode of learning that can unleash a whole host of learning benefits. However, as with any other instrument it must be used intelligently. As to my personal experience and the questions it brought forward, I now know that an affective state is a temporary state and that the deviation from my common behavior was caused by a carefully crafted and facilitated experience. I am very grateful to the crafters who have allowed me to experienced another side of me. Would I do it again? Absolutely, but probably when playing a new game.
THE WINNING TEAM
Upon reflection, I would not change my team for the world and would happily replay the game with them. I am sure I will make new, equally amazing discoveries.
REFERENCES
[1] Wilkinson, P. (2015). Affective Educational Games: Utilizing Emotions in Game-based Learning, Conference Paper, Last Accessed on 15/01/2019 via https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261076294_Affective_educational_games_Utilizing_emotions_in_game-based_learning
[2] Hills, R. (2016). Last Accessed on 15/01/2019 via https://peopledevelopmentmagazine.com/2016/12/23/role-emotions-learning/
[3] Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2011). Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experiece, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc, New York, NY
[4] Goleman, D. (2003). The new leaders. Time Warner Books, Uk
*The classroom refers to the ITC-ILO International Forum of Agents of Change Certification Programme held in Turin, Italy in November, 2019.