Neuroscience perspectives on culture and intersubjectivity and their implications for technology enhanced learning: a literature review

Abstract

The present literature review departs from the discovery of mirror neurons to consider some Neuroscience studies which appear particularly relevant for research and practice in Technology Enhanced Learning TEL. Two tables in the article summarise the key findings of some neuroscience studies and their implications for TEL. The writing highlights two main broad research areas that a closer collaboration between neuroscience and TEL may fruitfully address: first, the relevance and the reciprocal influence between mirror neurons and the sensorimotor experiences that TEL leverages and second, the neurological bases that may explain variations in the use TEL, by people belonging to different cultures. With reference to the second area of investigation, this paper offers an operational definition of culture, as the set of priming processes and tools. This definition is derived from research practices recently adopted in Cultural Neuroscience and it seems to offer an interesting perspective to conduct further neuroscience studies on TEL.