Since the impressive technological advances in brain imaging in the 1990s, neuroscience has enabled cognitive science to take a giant step forward. By observing the mechanisms of the brain in action, we can now confirm or refute certain hypotheses on which our understanding of learning and teaching has been built. Neuroscience has the power to bring us considerable progress in education without rejecting our entire pedagogical heritage or repressing the contribution of teachers in this great march forward—on the contrary.

Whatever the learning mode, stimulating and sustaining engagement is essential, but in elearning, this factor needs special attention since learners who find themselves alone in front of their screen are more at risk of feeling left to their own devices and becoming demotivated. Drawing on neuroscientific knowledge, here are a few principles and strategies to help learners stay fully engaged from start to finish.

Are you familiar with the cognitive processes of attention, working memory, inhibition, and metacognition? If you already have an idea of what they do and how they work, you may not know what neuroscience has discovered about them in recent years. To satisfy your curiosity and enhance your learning, here are five surprising and useful facts about some of our cognitive processes.

Necessary for learning, our attention span is also essential for accomplishing our everyday tasks. To preserve and cultivate this precious faculty, which is particularly vulnerable in the digital age, it's essential to understand better its mechanisms to identify the factors we can influence and those we'd better let go of. Here are five surprising facts about attention to help you understand it better!