As the next semester begins, we see a current spike in COVID-19 cases. Masks are increasingly necessary and a part of our day-to-day living. So, just like making a strategy for attaining goals, industrious students and teachers familiarize themselves with the CDC guidelines on masking up. However, these guidelines change regularly. Masking as a Part of Culture The changes are so frequent that in true internet-of-things, Generation Z style, memes on the CDC proliferate— joking about all the possibilities of what “the CDC says.” But jokes aside, scientists are creating their content related to masking. For example, novel research looks at how wearing a mask might be related to different levels of emotional awareness. What Science Suggests Scientists who focus on visually impaired individuals studied a sample of 119 individuals. The study focused on the tone of voice, body language, and other emotional indicators. According to this study, the younger the tested individual, the higher the rate of inaccuracy between reading emotions. Children 3-5 years old had the most severe disadvantage in discerning emotions with mask wearers. Such inability led to facial misinterpretation and resulted in some behavior that could be considered inappropriately aggressive. However, for those who were older and grew up with a sense of emotional awareness more acute based on years of practice without a mask, this inability to read emotions correctly was not as dramatic. Younger children “faced,” if you will, all the consequences. It Would Be Best To Mask Up Anyways… While this study may not entirely prove that wearing a mask makes you meaner, it suggests causation between mask-wearing and emotional intelligence. But, perhaps the question is moot. It seems mask-wearing will be a way in congested settings like schools for the foreseeable future. Regardless of how a mask affects emotional development, we are sure that it positively impacts our health. That certainty means you should probably mask up anyways.
It’s a year! After a year of reflecting, dreaming, and expressing gratitude to teachers in the Covid 19 Pandemic, we’ve come to an impasse on making the most of our pandemic lives. So what’s the next step? Meeting goals doesn’t just come with designing your life. It comes with a strategic, brain-aware way to approach accomplishment. Challenging Yourself Neuroscientists have been interested in goal setting and how to challenge the experience mentally. Students making academic goals can also learn something from neuroscience. The neuroscience community suggests that even HAVING goals is helpful to direct the way our brain forms connections and thoughts. More goals = more connections. A new framework suggests that making changes in behavior requires a shift in two axes: level of skill, knowledge, the ability needed for action; and status of motivation. An example of this behavior on the high ends of motivation and level of skill and familiarity is navigating a new city for the first time. This action is HIGH on both axes because it shows an exciting challenge necessary to undergo if one is traveling. There is motivation and dexterity. Considering Executive Function So, how would you use this new framework? Well, thinking about the brain’s executive function (how various parts of our brains work together to complete a task that requires attention, working memory, inhibitory control, and planning) provides insight. Executive function rests on taking novel experiences and information and responding to them to normalize a response. This activity is referred to as “habit formation.” Suppose the brain is a limited resource with constant energetic needs. In that case, executive function is also limited in its ability to perform tasks and choose which ones are the most important to standardize and form a habit. What does this suggest? Practice! Practice makes more than perfect. Perhaps another obvious solution, but a plenty important one. Using our brains to actively work on a goal and doing it over and over simply by quantity is a neuroscientifically suggested method of achieving your goals.
