Depressing read: Oh dear, even people with neuroscience training believe an awful lot of brain myths

It’s a bright sunny day. My kids are having fun. Tomorrow I’ll be leaving for DC to be part of the CTTL summer course. Life is great, but this article in BPS Digest about this new survey is making me depressed.

Do read the full article by Christian Jarrett but the results of the survey can make you cry:

• Learning styles myth (endorsed by 93 per cent of the public, 76 per cent of teachers, and 78 per cent of those with neuroscience education)
• A common sign of dyslexia is seeing letters backwards (endorsed by 76 per cent of the public, 59 per cent of teachers, and 50 per cent of those with neuroscience education)
• Listening to classical music increases children’s reasoning ability (endorsed by 59 per cent of the public, 55 per cent of teachers, and 43 per cent of the neuroscience group) [more on music-related neuromyths]
• Children are less attentive after consuming sugar (endorsed by 59 per cent of the public, 50 per cent of teachers and 39 per cent of the neuroscience group)
• The left-brain right-brain myth (endorsed by 64 per cent of the public, 49 per cent of teachers and 32 per cent of the neuroscience group)
• The 10 per cent myth (endorsed by 36 per cent of the public, 33 per cent of teachers, and 14 per cent of those with neuroscience education).

Is there any silver lining? Yes: teachers are doing a better job than the general public, but the fact that even people involved in neuroscience are believing some of this stuff?

(Btw, remember this post?)