A team from Stanford studied the “brain's attempt to make sense of the continual flow of information the real world generates, a process called event segmentation”. To start, this sort of research gives us another beautiful window into considering what it means to learn. As our students take in all of the world that surrounds them, their brain is busy “partition[ing] information into meaningful chunks by extracting information about beginnings, endings and the boundaries between events”.  This alone, this reminder that the brain is busy sorting new information into meaningful chunks just reminds us again how important it is that the content in fact feels meaning to them, like subconsciously.

There are several  implications about learning that come from the study’s results.  First, the reminder that there is a power to silence and pause.  The study noted that while listening to a piece at a concert, a person might start to wander in attention but then “at the transition point between movements, their attention is arrested". In an analysis of this study, the author notes what we can learn from this and apply generously to our teaching: “Peak brain activity occurred during a short period of silence between musical movements - when seemingly nothing was happening“.

Also, the study confirms that the mind is wont for tension, surprise, and unpredictability as much as it desires order and pattern.  Musicians and nonmusicians track the “development of a musical piece, and form predictions about what will come next” and their brains are triggered by “having a mismatch between what the listeners expect to hear”.  We can use this insight as we shape the lessons for our students each day - designing them with this in mind.

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2007/07/music-moves-brain-to-pay-attention-stanford-study-finds.html