Brain Gym

Infobox Pseudoscience


caption=
claims = Any learning challenges can be overcome by finding the right movements, to subsequently create new pathways in the brain.
The repetition of certain movements "activates the brain for optimal storage and retrieval of information."
topics = Physiology, Neuroscience
origyear = 1980
origprop = Paul E. Dennison and Gail E. Dennison
currentprop = Paul and Gail Dennison

Brain Gym is a commercial training program that claims that any learning challenges can be overcome by finding the right movements, the use of which will create new pathways in the brain. They claim that the repetition of the 26 Brain Gym movements "activates the brain for optimal storage and retrieval of information." Its theoretical foundation has been thoroughly discredited by the scientific community, who describe it as pseudoscience. Peer reviewed scientific studies into Brain Gym have found no significant improvement in general academic skills. Its claimed results have been put down to the placebo effect and the benefits of breaks and exercise. Its founder, Paul Dennison, has admitted that many of Brain Gym's claims are not based good science, but on his "hunches". [cite news
url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3671213.ece
title=News in brief
date=2008-04-05
publisher="The Times"
accessdate=2008-09-01
quote=Paul Dennison, a Californian educator who created the programme, admitted that many claims in his teacher’s guide were based on his 'hunches' and were not proper science.] It is widely used in British state schools. It is also offered to both children and adults in parts of the United States and Canada.

History

What became Brain Gym began in Paul and Gail Dennison's work in the 1970s, researching more effective ways to help learning disabled children and adults. They call their field of study, which they founded during this period, "Educational Kinesiology" (Edu-K), a form of applied kinesiology. They define Edu-K as "learning through movement".cite web |url=http://www.braingym.org/about |title=Brain Gym - about |publisher=The Official Brain Gym Web Site |accessdate=2008-08-11 |quote=] .

Some of the specific movements the program uses were, according to the Brain Gym website, developed from Paul Dennison's "knowledge of the relationship of movement to perception, and the impact of these on fine motor and academic skills." Others were learned during his training as a marathon runner, his study of vision training, his study of Jin Shin Jitsu (a form of acupressure), and his study of Applied Kinesiology. [cite web |url=http://www.braingym.org/faq#_4 |title=Brain Gym - FAQ |publisher=The Official Brain Gym Web Site |accessdate=2008-08-11 |quote=Many of the BRAIN GYM activities, like the Owl, the Elephant, and the Alphabet 8s, were developed from Dr. Dennison’s knowledge of the relationship of movement to perception, and the impact of these on fine motor and academic skills. Others were learned during his training as a marathon runner, his study of vision training, his study of Jin Shin Jitsu (a form of acupressure), and his study of Applied Kinesiology (taught to the public as the Touch for Health synthesis).]

The Dennisons presented their program under its current name in their booklets "Switching On: A Guide to Edu-Kinesthetics" (1980) and "Brain Gym – Simple Activities for Whole Brain Learning" (1986). [cite web |url=http://www.braingym.org/faq#_2 |title=Brain Gym - FAQ |publisher=The Official Brain Gym Web Site |accessdate=2008-08-11 |quote=]

Brain Gym is now used in more than 80 countries.

Claims

[
cite web
url=http://esl.about.com/od/englishlessonplans/a/braingym.htm
title=Brain Gym Exercises
last=Beare
first=Kenneth
publisher=About.com
accessdate=2008-10-11] ]

The program is based on the premise that all learning begins with movement, and that any learning challenges can be overcome by finding the right movements, to subsequently create new pathways in the brain. It claims that the repetition of certain movements "activates the brain for optimal storage and retrieval of information" and "promotes efficient communication among the many nerve cells and functional centers located throughout the brain and sensory motor system." [cite web |url=http://www.braingym.org/faq#How_does_movement_affect_the_brain__Do_actual_physical_changes_in_the_brain_occur_through_the_use_of_BRAIN_GYM___ |title=Brain Gym - FAQ |publisher=The Official Brain Gym Web Site |accessdate=2008-08-11 |quote=BRAIN GYM works by facilitating optimal achievement of mental potential through specific movement experiences. All acts of speech, hearing, vision, and coordination are learned through a complex repertoire of movements. BRAIN GYM promotes efficient communication among the many nerve cells and functional centers located throughout the brain and sensory motor system.] There are 26 of these exercises, which are designed to "integrate body and mind" in order to improve "concentration, memory, reading, writing, organizing, listening, physical coordination, and more."

Educational Kinesiology teaches that brain function is defined in terms of three dimensions: laterality is the ability to co-ordinate the left and right sides of the brain, focus is the ability to co-ordinate the front and back of the brain, and centering is the ability to co-ordinate the top and bottom of the brain. According to Brain Gym, people whose brains are not interconnected properly in the three different dimensions suffer from corresponding deficits; for example, the ability to move and think at the same time is dependent on laterality (left to right co-ordination). The Brain Gym exercises are claimed to work by interconnecting the brain in these three dimensions. [cite web
url=http://braingym.org/faq#_6
title=Brain Gym - FAQ
publisher=The Official Brain Gym Web Site
accessdate=2008-08-15
quote=The Dennisons describe brain functioning in terms of three dimensions––laterality, focus, and centering.

Laterality is the ability to coordinate one side of the brain with the other, especially in the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic midfield, the area where the two sides overlap. This skill is fundamental to the ability to read, write, and communicate. It is also essential for fluid whole-body movement, and for the ability to move and think at the same time.

Focus is the ability to coordinate the back and front areas of the brain. ...

Centering is the ability to coordinate the top and bottom areas of the brain. ...

The BRAIN GYM movements interconnect the brain in these dimensions, allowing us to easily learn through all the senses, to remember what we learn, and to participate more fully in the events of our lives. ...] Anatomical, physiological and neurological research does not support this model. [See the brain and human brain articles.]

Organisational structure

The Educational Kinesiology Foundation is a non-profit educational organisation based in Ventura, California. It was established in 1987. It has a board of directors, but their names are not listed on the Brain Gym website. Brain Gym International is also based in Ventura. The relationship between the two organisations is not explained on the Brain Gym website. Brain Gym is a registered trademark of Brain Gym International. [cite web
url=http://braingym.org/faq#What_is_the_history_of_the_Educational_Kinesiology_Foundation__
title=Brain Gym - FAQ
publisher=The Official Brain Gym Web Site
accessdate=2008-08-15
quote=]

The Brain Gym instructor program is open to anyone. To become qualied as a consultant there is a four stage training program, which consists of fourteen short courses of between twenty-four and forty hours in length. The trainee must also complete fifteen case studies, and attend six private consultations with a qualified instructor - these can be completed over the telephone. [cite web
url=http://braingym.org/brochures/Official%202007%20EduK%20Req.pdf
title=Requirements for Licensure as a Brain Gym Instructor / Consultant
date=2007
format=pdf
publisher=Educational Kinesiology Foundation
accessdate=2008-08-15] [cite web
url=http://www.braingym.org.uk/training/visual.htm
title=Brain Gym Instructor & Educational Kinesiology Consultant Professional Training Track
publisher=The Official Brain Gym Website for the UK
accessdate=2008-08-15]

Scientific criticism

Brain Gym has been criticized as being wholly unscientific in a wide-ranging and authoritative review of research into neuroscience and education published in 2007 by the UK Economic and Social Research Council's Teaching and Learning Research Programme. [cite web |url=http://www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/Neuroscience%20Commentary%20FINAL.pdf |title=Neuroscience and Education: Issues and Opportunities |publisher=the ESRC's Teaching and Learning Research Programme website |accessdate=2007-08-03 |quote=The pseudo-scientific terms that are used to explain how this works, let alone the concepts they express, are unrecognisable within the domain of neuroscience.] The report noted that doing any exercise can improve alertness, and exercise systems like Brain Gym, regardless of their pseudoscientific ideas, may help for that reason. [cite web |url=http://www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/Neuroscience%20Commentary%20FINAL.pdf |title=Neuroscience and Education: Issues and Opportunities |publisher=the ESRC's Teaching and Learning Research Programme website |accessdate=2007-08-03 |quote=short sessions of Brain Gym exercise have been shown to improve response times, and such strategies, if they are effective, may work because exercise can improve alertness.]

In May 2006, Professor Usha Goswami, the director of Cambridge University's Centre for Neuroscience in Education, wrote an article published in "Nature", in which she says that BrainGym and similar programmes are based on "neuromyths" that "need to be eliminated". She attributes the "success of the brain-based learning industry" to "inspirational marketing" which "ensures that teachers who attend these conferences do get 'sold' on the supposed benefits of these programmes" and to "placebo effects" that "may indeed bring benefits to children in the short term." In summary, she says that teachers are very interested in neuroscience, but science is not yet ready to offer practical advice. [cite journal |last=Goswami |first=Usha |year=2006 |month=May |title=Neuroscience and education: from research to practice? |journal=Nature |volume= 7|issue= |pages=406–413 |doi=10.1038/nrn1907 |url=http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v7/n5/abs/nrn1907.html |format=fee required|accessdate=2008-08-11 |quote=Cognitive neuroscience is making rapid strides in areas highly relevant to education. However, there is a gulf between current science and direct classroom applications. Most scientists would argue that filling the gulf is premature. Nevertheless, at present, teachers are at the receiving end of numerous 'brain-based learning' packages. Some of these contain alarming amounts of misinformation, yet such packages are being used in many schools.]

In 2008 Sense About Science published a briefing document in which thirteen British scientists responded to statements taken from the "Brain Gym guide (Teacher’s Edition)". Each of them entirely rejected the statements that were put to them. Brain Gym's scientific content was described as "pseudo-scientific". One of the scientists, Professor of neuroscience Colin Blakemore, said that "there have been a few peer reviewed scientific studies into the methods of Brain Gym, but none of them found a significant improvement in general academic skills." [cite web |url=http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/233/ |title=Sense About Science - Brain Gym |publisher=Sense About Science |accessdate=2008-04-11 |quote=These exercises are being taught with pseudoscientific explanations that undermine science teaching and mislead children about how their bodies work. ... There have been a few peer reviewed scientific studies into the methods of Brain Gym, but none of them found a significant improvement in general academic skills.] Sense about Science, along with the British Neuroscience Association and the Physiological Society, wrote to every Local Education Authority in Britain to warn them about the program. [cite news
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/apr/03/brain.gym
title=Experts dismiss educational claims of Brain Gym programme
last=Randerson
first=James
date=2008-04-03
publisher=The Guardian
accessdate=2008-10-06
quote=Two leading scientific societies and a charity that promotes scientific understanding have written to every local education authority in the the UK to warn that a programme of exercises being promoted to help child learning relies on "pseudoscientific explanations" and a "bizarre understanding" of how the body works.]

In 2007 Dr. Keith Hyatt of Western Washington University wrote a paper in which he analysed the available research into Brian Gym, as well as its theoretical basis. He concluded that Brain Gym is not supported by research, and that its theoretical basis does not stand up. The paper also encouraged teachers to learn how to read and understand research, to avoid teaching material that has no rational basis. [cite journal
last=Hyatt
first=Keith J.
year=2007
month=April
title=Brain Gym - Building Stronger Brains or Wishful Thinking?
journal=Remedial and Special Education
publisher=SAGE Publications
volume=28
issue=2
pages=117–124
issn=0741-9325
url=http://rse.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/28/2/117
doi=10.1177/07419325070280020201
format=fee required
quote=a review of the theoretical foundations of Brain Gym and the associated peer-reviewed research studies failed to support the contentions of the promoters of Brain Gym®. Educators are encouraged to become informed consumers of research and to avoid implementing programming for which there is neither a credible theoretical nor a sound research basis.
accessdate=2008-09-12]

Criticism in the media

Brain Gym has been heavily criticized by Dr. Ben Goldacre of "The Guardian's" Bad Science pages, who found no supporting evidence for the assertions put forward by Brain Gym proponents in any of the main public research databases. [cite news |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0,12980,975223,00.html |title=Work out your mind |author=Ben Goldacre |publisher="The Guardian" |date=2003-06-12 |accessdate=2007-08-03 |quote=On the off chance that it might not be rubbish I looked it up on the main public research databases. Nothing supported their assertions.] Upon learning that the program was used at hundreds of UK state schools, he called it a "vast empire of pseudoscience" and went on to dissect parts of their teaching materials, refuting, for instance, claims that rubbing the chest would stimulate the carotid arteries, that "processed foods do not contain water", or that liquids other than water "are processed in the body as food, and do not serve the body's water needs." [cite news |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0,,1733683,00.html |title=Brain Gym exercises do pupils no favours |author=Ben Goldacre |publisher="The Guardian" |date=2006-03-18 |accessdate=2007-08-03 |quote=I've accidentally stumbled upon a vast empire of pseudoscience being peddled in hundreds of state schools up and down the country.] Many teachers responded by writing letters in support of Brain Gym based on their first hand experience and its effectiveness in classroom settings. Goldacre reiterated his point that exercises and breaks were good for students, and that he was merely attacking "the stupid underlying science of Brain Gym". [cite news |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0,,1739365,00.html |title=Exercise the brain without this transparent nonsense |author=Ben Goldacre |publisher="The Guardian" |date=2006-03-25 |accessdate=2007-08-03 |quote=The advice they are offering is sensible: "take an exercise break to help you concentrate" ... But in stark contrast, the science they use to justify this so often seems to be bogus, empty PR, that promotes basic scientific misunderstandings, and most of all is completely superfluous in every sense except the commercial: because the ropey promotional "science" is the cornerstone of their commercial operation, they need it to promote themselves as experts selling a product that is unique and distinct from the obvious, sensible diet and exercise advice that you can't copyright.]

In a separate column, "Guardian" writer Philip Beadle sided with him, adding that Goldacre's "argument is with what Dr Barry Beyerstein, a professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, describes as 'commercial ventures promoted by who mislead consumers into thinking that their products are sound applications of scientific knowledge'." [cite news |url=http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/teach/story/0,,1795800,00.html |title=Keep your pupils stretched and watered |author=Philip Beadle |publisher="The Guardian" |date=2006-06-13 |accessdate=2007-08-03 |quote= [Ben Goldacre's] argument is with what Dr Barry Beyerstein, a professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, describes as "commercial ventures promoted by hucksters who mislead consumers into thinking that their products are sound applications of scientific knowledge.]

Newsnight did a piece on Brain Gym in early April 2008, which included an interview between Jeremy Paxman and Paul Dennison. During the course of the interview Dennison was challenged on the fact that many of the statements in the Brain Gym Teachers' Manual are "arrant nonsense". Dennison said that he "leaves the explanations to the experts", and, when challenged on his assertion that "processed foods do not contain water", his defence was that "15 years ago that was the best information I had, and no-one has complained about the teachers edition so far". [cite news
url=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YjRhYP5faTU
title=Interview with Paul Dennison
date=2008-04-02
publisher=Newsnight
quote=Is the fact that you're not medically qualified explanation enough for statements in this teachers manual of the kind that "processed foods do not contain water", which you know is arrant nonsense?
accessdate=2008-09-12]

Charlie Brooker, also writing in the "Guardian", has expressed incredulity that the Department for Children, Schools and Families is supportive of Brain Gym, despite its broad condemnation by scientific organisations, and despite it being apparently nonsense. [cite news
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/07/education
title=Charlie Brooker on the pseudoscience of Brain Gym
last=Brooker
first=Charlie
date=2008-04-07
publisher="The Guardian"
accessdate=2008-09-01
quote=All of which sounds like hooey to me. And also to the British Neuroscience Association, the Physiological Society and the charity Sense About Science, who have written to every local education authority in the land to complain about Brain Gym's misrepresentation of, um, reality.]

See also

*Pseudoscience
*Alternative therapies for developmental and learning disabilities
*Kinesthetic learning

References

External links

* [http://www.braingym.org/ Official Brain Gym website]
* [http://www.skepdic.com/braingym.html The Skeptic's Dictionary: Brain Gym]