Handout from Keynote Speaker, Dr. Judy Willis - Maricopa Center ...

New information coming through the sensory intake areas of the
brain cannot pass through the amygdala’s filter to gain access to
the reflective prefrontal cortex.
Incoming information is conducted to the lower, reactive brain.
The lower, reactive brain has a limited set of behavior outputs:
fight, flight, or freeze.
Students during these states of stress-directed behavior may be
misidentified as suffering from disorders i.e. ADHD, petit mal
epilepsy (staring spells), oppositional-defiant syndrome.
Stress can reduce the ability of the hippocampus to effectively use
working memory.
Sources of school-related stress:
Until the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is more mature, students are
more reactive than they are reflective, especially when they
perceive stress.
Stress comes in many forms for students:
o The boredom of already having mastery of the information
being taught
o No personal relevance: not being sufficiently interested in a
topic or aware of how the topic relates to a student’s own
interests or prior knowledge
o Frustration of previous failures, being confused, and falling
behind
o Fear of being wrong if asked to speak in class, answer
questions, or present their work orally
o Test-taking anxiety
o Physical and language differences
o Feeling overwhelmed by work load and unable to organize
time to respond to these demands
Reducing stress
If stress is reduced, and a person is in a relaxed and alert state,
information can pass through the amygdala and on to the reflective
“thinking brain” (prefrontal cortex) for long-term memory and
executive function processing. Students can build skills that allow the
prefrontal cortex to over-ride the lower brain’s reactive impulses.
© 2012 Judy Willis
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