The three brain networks and individual differences

Instead of thinking of students in unitary categories like “bright” or “learning disabled,” we can understand and reach students more effectively if we consider the rich palette of strengths, challenges, and interests that each one brings to school. Recent progress in neuroscience has taught us that the learning brain is a vast, interconnected network, within which , many smaller networks are specialized for performing particular kinds of processing and managing particular learning tasks.

Three primary networks are equally essential to learning. We identify these networks by terms that reflect their functions: the recognition, strategic, and affective networks. The activities of these networks parallel the three prerequisites for learning described by the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1962): recognition of the information to be learned; application of strategies to process that information; and engagement with the learning task. In brief:

• Recognition networks are specialized to sense and assign meaning to patterns we see; they enable us to identify and understand information, ideas, and concepts.
  
  
• Strategic networks are specialized to generate and oversee mental and motor patterns. They enable us to plan, execute, and monitor actions and skills.
  
  
• Affective networks are specialized to evaluate patterns and assign them emotional significance; they enable us to engage with tasks and learning and with the world around us.
  

These three neural networks work together to coordinate even simple acts like signing a birthday card for a friend. Through recognition networks, we understand the concept of a birthday and identify the card, the pen, our hands as we write, and our signature. Through strategic networks, we set our goal of signing the card, form a plan for picking up the pen and moving it to produce our signature, monitor our progress, and make small course corrections—such as reducing the size of the letters if we begin to run out of space. Affective networks connect us to our feelings for our friend, motivate us to sign the card, and keep us on task.

Rather than falling neatly into categories, learners differ within and across all three brain networks, showing shades of strength and weakness that makes each of them unique. Considering student qualities in the context of the three networks helps you develop a fuller picture of your students, noticing strengths, needs, and interests you may have missed by thinking categorically.

To start thinking about students’ challenges and potentials in the framework of the three brain networks, consider whether a given characteristic relates to their ability to take in information (recognition), to plan and execute actions or skills (strategy), or to connect and engage with learning (affect). Then determine whether it is a strength, a need, or a particular interest.