Sunday, Sep 27 2020
Relaxation improves learning and behavior
Original posted by Maria Josep Guillem
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Scientific Articles
- Gill, L. N., Renault, R., Campbell, E., Rainville, P., & Khoury, B. (2020). Mindfulness induction and cognition: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Consciousness and Cognition, 84, 102991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2020.102991
- Lilot, M., Evain, J. N., Bauer, C., Cejka, J. C., Faure, A., Balança, B., … & Rimmelé, T. (2018). Relaxation before debriefing during high-fidelity simulation improves memory retention of residents at three months: a prospective randomized controlled study. Anesthesiology, 128(3), 638-649. https://doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0000000000002045
Explanation of the Post
I have heard people say that “thanks to the relaxations that take place in the classrooms students improve their behavior and their learning performance”. As far as I know scientific research doesn’t prove that this is the best way to improve curricular learning performance as well as their behavior.
Other sources
- Martínez Ortiz, C. (2020). La meditación como herramienta pedagógica para potenciar la concentración y el bienestar en niños y niñas (Doctoral dissertation, Universidad Andrés Bello). http://repositorio.unab.cl/xmlui/handle/ria/14333
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SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES:
COMMENT:
A small positive effect was found, but needs more evidence.
Relaxation and Educational Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis.
“Meta-analysis of the studies revealed that relaxation techniques, in particular progressive relaxation techniques, had a small positive effect on cognitive academic variables. Examination of the studies suggests, however, that more carefully designed and implemented studies need to be undertaken, especially in the area of relaxation techniques and affective educational outcome.”
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED263501
SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE:
Mindfulness induction and cognition: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Meta-analysis revealed a small positive effect of mindfulness inductions on cognitive functioning but methodological quality of the studies was generally poor.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1053810019304283
COMMENT:
Basing on your question “Relaxation improves learning and behaviour?”, I am going to answer you basing in my own experience and with a scientific article related to your doubt.
On the one hand, I can say that yes, relaxation (and if it is accompanied by music, better) can improve the learning and the behaviour from the students. However, once achieved, you have to keep the calm, because if not, the exercise wouldn’t worth it.
On the other hand, I found an article that contribute on this question. According to the journal, Relaxation before Debriefing during High-fidelity Simulation Improves Memory Retention of Residents at Three Months: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Study:
High-fidelity simulation (HFS) is often embraced as an integral part of a longitudinal training curriculum and aims to accomplish part of this objective. HFS has been demonstrated to be effective in improving knowledge retention, with associated improvement in participant behaviour and performance during the simulation, as well as improved transfer of performance to current clinical practice. (Lilot, M., et.al, 2018)
Besides, this study expose more evidences that “high-fidelity simulation is known to improve participant learning and behavioural performance” and “results suggest that relation as a cognitive technique may enhance learning” (Lilot, M., et.al, 2018).
So, we can conclude that “benefits of relaxation to enhance learning should be considered for medical education”(Lilot, M., et.al, 2018).
SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE:
Marc Lilot, M.D.; Jean-Noel Evain, M.D.; Christian Bauer, M.D.; Jean-Christophe Cejka, M.D., Ph.D.; Alexandre Faure, M.D.; Baptiste Balança, M.D., Ph.D.; Olivia Vassal, M.D.; Cécile Payet, M.P.H.; Bernard Bui Xuan, M.D., Ph.D.; Antoine Duclos, M.D., Ph.D.; Jean-Jacques Lehot, M.D., Ph.D.; Thomas Rimmelé, M.D., Ph.D., Relaxation before Debriefing during High-fidelity Simulation Improves Memory Retention of Residents at Three Months: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Study, Anesthesiology March 2018, Vol. 128, 638–649. https://doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0000000000002045
Como comenta marina.agut el estudio de Lilot, M., Evain, J., Bauer, C., Cejka, J., Faure, A., Balança, B., Vassal, O., Payet, C., Xuan, B. B., Duclos, A., Lehot, J., & Rimmelé, T. (2018). Relaxation before Debriefing during High-fidelity Simulation Improves Memory Retention of Residents at Three Months. Anesthesiology, 128(3), 638-649. Sugiere que la relajación antes de la sesión de retroalimentación puede mejorar la retención de memoria a largo plazo en los residentes de medicina que participan en simulaciones de alta fidelidad, lo que puede tener implicaciones importantes para la formación de los residentes y la mejora de la calidad de la atención médica.
También el artículo de “Martínez Ortiz, Camila (2020). La meditación como herramienta pedagógica para potenciar la concentración y el bienestar en niños y niñas. Revista de Educación, 45(2), 18-23.” destaca el potencial de la meditación como una herramienta pedagógica para mejorar la concentración, el bienestar y el rendimiento académico en niños y niñas, y ofrece algunas recomendaciones para los educadores que deseen incorporar la meditación en sus prácticas pedagógicas.
Llegando a una conclusión que tanto el estudio de “Lilot et al. (2018) como el artículo de Martínez Ortiz (2020)” sugieren que la meditación puede tener un impacto positivo en el aprendizaje.
Lilot et al. (2018) encontraron que la relajación mediante una técnica de meditación antes de una sesión de debriefing durante simulaciones de alta fidelidad mejoró la retención de la memoria en los residentes a los tres meses. Los autores señalaron que la relajación ayudó a mejorar la calidad de la retroalimentación durante la sesión de debriefing y mejoró la capacidad de los participantes para retener información a largo plazo. Estos resultados sugieren que la meditación puede ayudar a mejorar la retención de información, así como la calidad del aprendizaje en situaciones de alta exigencia.
Por otro lado, Martínez Ortiz (2020) destaca que la meditación puede mejorar la concentración y el bienestar emocional en niños y niñas, lo que puede tener un impacto positivo en su capacidad de aprendizaje. La meditación puede ayudar a los niños y niñas a desarrollar habilidades para manejar el estrés y la ansiedad, lo que puede mejorar su capacidad para enfocarse en las tareas de aprendizaje y aumentar su rendimiento académico. Además, la meditación puede mejorar la memoria y la atención, lo que puede facilitar el proceso de aprendizaje.
En resumen, tanto Lilot et al. (2018) como Martínez Ortiz (2020) sugieren que la meditación puede tener un impacto positivo en el aprendizaje al mejorar la retención de la memoria, la calidad de la retroalimentación, la concentración y el bienestar emocional. Estos hallazgos sugieren que la meditación puede ser una herramienta efectiva para mejorar la capacidad de aprendizaje en una variedad de situaciones y para estudiantes de todas las edades.
Bibliografía:
Lilot, M., Evain, J., Bauer, C., Cejka, J., Faure, A., Balança, B., Vassal, O., Payet, C., Xuan, B. B., Duclos, A., Lehot, J., & Rimmelé, T. (2018). Relaxation before Debriefing during High-fidelity Simulation Improves Memory Retention of Residents at Three Months. Anesthesiology, 128(3), 638-649. https://doi.org/10.1097/aln.0000000000002045
“Martínez Ortiz, Camila (2020). La meditación como herramienta pedagógica para potenciar la concentración y el bienestar en niños y niñas. Revista de Educación, 45(2), 18-23. “
Measuring relaxation levels among students is difficult without an intervention in which relaxation levels can be compared in a pre- and post-test. Therefore, relaxation and its effects are usually measured in studies published in scientific journals, if techniques have been used in the classroom or outside the classroom to promote relaxation. One of the techniques that has been strengthened the most in recent years, and with a certain media reputation, is Mindfulness.
However, despite the numerous studies that focus on its possible benefits, the results obtained in analyses with relevant samples (mainly meta-analyses) and less desirability bias seem to conclude that the effects of Mindfulness-Based Programmes (MBP) and Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI) are certainly limited or inconclusive. Moreover, their effect on learning (cognitive skills, executive functions, memory, etc.) is usually measured indirectly. That is, it is analysed how mindfulness practice influences levels of relaxation, anxiety, etc. and how these conditions impact on learning. Therefore, its measurement of direct effect may be questionable. In addition, the sample sizes of the different analyses are often too small or do not consider follow-up studies. This leads us to recommend turning to recent meta-analyses to get a closer look at the evidence.
As Odgers et al. (2020) state in their meta-analysis, MBIs produce no beneficial effect in anxiety reduction, therefore, results revealed a lack of evidence to support investment in school-based MBIs to address youth anxiety. Including the analysis of the effects of Mindfulness on cognitive skills, among others, Dunning et al. (2022) point out emphatically that enthusiasm for MBIs in young people has run ahead of the evidence. In their meta-analysis they point out that the evidence from different studies, while showing promising results in some cases, is of low quality and inconclusive. In relation to the classroom interventions themselves, Zenner et al. (2014) come to the same conclusion that most studies that analyse these effects of MBIs are excessively heterogeneous and underpowered, arriving at results that should be taken with excessive caution. Finally, Goldberg et al. (2022), in another meta-analysis, conclude that the effects of MBI programmes are very small in the treatment of different problems, with active control being more relevant.
Therefore, after an initial “golden age” in which mindfulness seemed to be an infallible type of intervention in classrooms to achieve less anxiety and better academic performance, recent studies that analyse by meta-analysis the different results of the interventions carried out agree that these effects are not such. Or, at least, they should be taken with great caution, given the significant bias they tend to include.
References
Dunning, D., Tudor, K., Radley, L., Dalrymple, N., Funk, J., Vainre, M., Ford, T., Montero-Marin, J., Kuyken, W., & Dalgleish, T. (2022). Do mindfulness-based programmes improve the cognitive skills, behaviour and mental health of children and adolescents? An updated meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Evidence-Based Mental Health, 25(3), 135-142. https://doi.org/10.1136/ebmental-2022-300464
Goldberg, S. B., Riordan, K. M., Sun, S., & Davidson, R. J. (2022). The Empirical Status of Mindfulness-Based Interventions: A Systematic Review of 44 Meta-Analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials. Perspectives on Psychological Science: A Journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 17(1), 108-130. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620968771
Odgers, K., Dargue, N., Creswell, C., Jones, M. P., & Hudson, J. L. (2020). The Limited Effect of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Anxiety in Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 23(3), 407-426. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-020-00319-z
Zenner, C., Herrnleben-Kurz, S., & Walach, H. (2014). Mindfulness-based interventions in schools—A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00603