Comments on: Student’s Brain Flatlines During Class

By: DIGEST – 20 May | sam whiteman

DIGEST – 20 May | sam whiteman — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 12:07:15 +0000

[…] studies show student brains flat-lining during class. Eeek. // The Society Pages If I talk to a friend and they keep asking me for information I know they already have, I have a […]

By: 10 #longreads for this week — in great company

10 #longreads for this week — in great company — Sun, 20 May 2012 11:00:55 +0000

[…] studies show student brains flat-lining during class. Eeek. // The Society Pages If I talk to a friend and they keep asking me for information I know they already have, I have a […]

By: brain death « Zombies in the Academy

brain death « Zombies in the Academy — Sun, 06 May 2012 23:12:00 +0000

[…] Lisa Wade @ Sociological Images and Joi Ito, & Boing Boing. Students brains flatlining during classes Like this:LikeBe the […]

By: a neuroscientist

a neuroscientist — Fri, 04 May 2012 20:04:00 +0000

As others have said, galvanic skin response (GSR) is ONLY a measure of sympathetic arousal (i.e., a state of acute stress) and has nothing to do with brain activity. Mental arithmetic and the Stroop task produced changes in GSR only because they stressed people performing them. I guarantee that if this student had been surprised by a question during class, there would be a significant change from baseline in the GSR record.

The device itself is pretty interesting, though.

By: Concerned Professor

Concerned Professor — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:12:00 +0000

Lisa –

Let me start by apologizing for the tone of the following post. I realize it’s antagonistic, but I’m not sure how else to present this….

Please be responsible in your posts to this blog. Over and over again, I have students who bring “information” from this website to class. Unfortunately, it’s come to the point where I have now asked them to stop reading this blog.

You’re doing a grave disservice to the discipline of sociology by framing these posts as in any way connected to the discipline. As other have already commented, there are a number of issues (all of which have not been listed yet) with both the presentation of your “data” and the claims that you make.

While there are MANY problems with this particular post, one of the most glaring is that you are presenting data from a sample of one. This is the exact mode of thought that sociology professors battle in introductory and lower-level classes. It’s disappointing to see you implying conclusions and generalizations from a sample of one when we spend a great deal of energy trying to show our students that this is not how sociology operates as a discipline.

This is not the first post to this blog that has been problematic. I’ve seen a number of other posts that received rather critical comments regarding the claims that you make and the (lack of) data to support those claims.

Undergraduate students read these posts. Please do not misrepresent our discipline by framing these as sociological insights. You are completely entitled to your own opinion and reading of social issues. My issue is not with the position you take on things, but the fact that you present these opinions and sensationalized writings as sociologically informed.

By: Hadrian

Hadrian — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:54:00 +0000

Electrodermal activity is also knows as Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) and is used to measure stress and arousal, not brain activity. Think Lie Detector, not brain state.

By: Cheirogaleidae

Cheirogaleidae — Wed, 02 May 2012 04:43:00 +0000

There’s also this:
“In addition, it is widely recognized that attention-grabbing stimuli and attention-demanding tasks also evoke increased EDA responses [7], [8],” which could imply that class was terribly boring.

By: Cheirogaleidae

Cheirogaleidae — Wed, 02 May 2012 04:35:00 +0000

Exactly. From the phrasing, I figured that they had tested other students but only one had exhibited the ‘flatline.’ Upon reading the original study, I found that they had actually only monitored one student during classes. Just thought I’d clarify so others wouldn’t have to read the whole thing.

By: Marcel Estemonte

Marcel Estemonte — Tue, 01 May 2012 22:25:00 +0000

Title is misleading (I would even go as far as to call it sensationalist). As someone already pointed out, this study is NOT measuring brain activity.

By: hopeless shade

hopeless shade — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:50:00 +0000

I had a much beloved professor who would lecture with two humming slide projectors, a completely dark room, and a monotone voice. It was impressively soporific, and unhelped by the fact that he would only have class around 3pm.

So, all I can say to this student is, I know your pain, have enough cash for an extra coffee, and remember that you’ll never be asked about the Raphael readings because he’ll spend the whole quarter on da Vinci.

By: Elena

Elena — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:31:00 +0000

The student also “flatlines” when they’ve been watching TV (see days 4 and 7) and relaxing (days 3 and 7). So my working hypotheses is that the “flatline” thing isn’t really a “flatline”.

By: milobloom

milobloom — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:29:00 +0000

Not only that, but the EDA they measured seems to reflect stress: “EDA parameters may be regarded as suitable measures of ANS activity induced by stress” (page 1243 of the original paper). Perhaps this student just didn’t find class stressful?

By: dave

dave — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:16:00 +0000

Top Scientist, you don’t understand what the OP was trying to say. The phrasing “at least one” implies that many students were tested, and gives us the impression that more than one may have had these results. But, that’s a false impression, because they only tested one. Nice work, Einstein.

By: Top Scientist

Top Scientist — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:02:00 +0000

One is at least one, Einstein.

By: GrumpyMrGruff

GrumpyMrGruff — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:29:00 +0000

I only skimmed it, but it looks like the EDA (electro-dermal activity) they were measuring was from a wearable wrist sensor, not an EEG of brain activity.