Does how we feel affect what we see?

Places please for effective adult learning.

 An interesting study came to this reporter's attention this week. Conducted by Taylor Schmitz and a team of researchers at the University of Toronto and reported in the June issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, the study found the following.

"Positive moods enhanced peripheral vision and increased the extent to which the brain encoded information in those parts of the visual field, to which the participants did not pay attention. Conversely, negative moods decreased the encoding of peripheral information" (quoted in the science blog Neurophilosophy).

This Examiner column has for months been making the case that positive emotion quiets the brains automatic panic impulse and allows a person to open their mind to new stimuli. The impact of emotion on the visual field of vision is something this reporter had never considered before.

The implication of this research for learning professionals may be that a positive, emotional environment - like that created by Learnertainment® - actually allows a trainer's, teacher's, or speaker's learners to see and absorb more.