The Last Time We Were Together

In the Q2 series we talked about how the brain learns and how stress wrecks access to the PFC thinking brain, and why neurodivergent brains can "know it" and still not be able to use it.

If you're new here, start with 🧠 Part 1: The Neurobiology of Learning

This July, August, and September we're zooming in on something even more foundational:

How does the brain notice, learn, and forget what's important?

This post 👇 is about the very first step in that process — noticing.

The 1/10th Of A Second That Changes Everything

Picture this: you sit down in a brain scanner and a researcher flashes photos of human faces one after another, in one tenth of a second on a screen in front of you. 

And faster than conscious thought, faster than you can even register, a tiny almond-shaped part deep within the brain lights up like a siren.

It has noticed and decided something matters.

You’re not aware you don’t consciously even know it yet.

But the amygdala, the siren, does.

This is Robert Sapolsky’s research from his book Behave, and it’s the perfect window into the question we’re asking this month: How does the brain notice what’s Important?

🧟 It’s Time to Reintroduce the Amygdala

We’ve talked about the amygdala before- it’s part of the survival brain 🧟. It scans the environment for threats and signals “pay attention, this matters!” before the PFC thinking brain even knows what’s going on.

Sapolsky’s research shows the amygdala activates to faces of people from different racial groups.

Sapollsky’s research shows that the amygdala lights up whenever it is shown a face of someone of a different race. 

Too fast for awareness. 1/10th of a second.

Too fast for choice.

The brain noticed something, flagged it as important and started preparing the body to respond- all before you could think a single thought.

Translation: your students’ amygdala’s are doing this all day. Noticing the tone of your voice 🗣️. Noticing where the kid next to them looks safe. Noticing whether today’s going to be calm and predictable. 

By the time a student’s behavior shows up, their brain has already decided something matters, way before they can explain why.

🔦 Attention: The Brain's Spotlight

Imagine: You walk into the super market and you notice everything, I mean everything. Every single tomato, person, sign, mark on the floor, everything. You’d freak out. Your brain would overload.

You can't notice everything. There's too much. Your brain is constantly selecting what to pay attention to. Regulating what it selects is called “attention.”

Think about the cocktail party effect 🥂. You're at a noisy party, focusing on one conversation. Then someone across the room says your name. Instantly your attention is pulled away from the conversation. Your brain was silently monitoring everything in the background, filtering. 

In the 1960’s it was proven that the brain doesn’t block unattended information and weakens it. But the moment something important or relevant pops up, like your name, a baby crying, the words “fire” or “help!” attention snaps to it.

Translation:

A student who looks “distracted” is noticing and paying attention to something. Their brain is selecting. The question isn’t whether they’re noticing, it's what they’re noticing.

The Brain That Can't Stop Noticing 😰

Here’s where it gets tricky. The student who’ve experienced trauma, the amygdala doesn’t just notice- it over notices. 

Trauma survivors have amygdalas that are built to survive, of course we’re gonna notice more, more often.

Including but not limited to: 

• Facial expressions

• Shifts in tone

• Eye aversion

And it all gets flagged as potentially important. 

The brain says, “un-oh, is she mad at me? She looks mad, better store this for later.”

A brain that’s wired to survive can’t easily stop scanning for danger.

This is why a student might react to impatience in your voice as if you yelled at them.

Their brain noticed the difference, noticed it as a threat, before their PFC thinking brain could register what it meant.

“Overreacting”

“Being dramatic”

It’s stress. It’s neurobiology.

The Brain Is Always Predicting 🔮

The thing that surprises and confuses most teachers is that the brain runs on simulations- not kidding. 

Real, honest to God, neural simulations or predictions. 

Predicting what’s next isn’t purple.

Did that throw you off?

Your brain was making a prediction and it did not predict “purple.”

The startling sensation you may have experienced is called “prediction error.”

In Power of Habits, Charles Duhigg tells the story of Eugen, a man with severe amnesia. Couldn’t remember his own house layout. Ask him where the kitchen or bathroom was, he couldn’t tell you. 

But when he was home his feet would take wherever he needed to go.

Somehow his body knew where everything was.

His brain had already predicted the next step before he consciously thought about it.

Your brain is doing this every second of every day. It’s running ahead of reality or trying to.

Constantly forecasting what comes next based on everything it’s learned before.

Noticing isn’t passive. 

The brain doesn’t just receive information- it predicts what's coming and then checks reality against it’s purple predictions- see I did it again. That’s important it predicts what’s coming and then checks reality against prediction.

If it doesn’t match the prediction the amygdala lights up and flags it.

🛟 If You're Using The Toolkit

This is exactly why The Behavior & Needs Detective is step one in The Neurodivergent Toolkit [HERE].

When a student reacts in a way that surprises you, the question isn’t “what consequence?” The questions is:

🔍 What did their brain just notice? 

And psychological needs matter.

Which need is typically compromised?

• Autonomy

• Belonging

• Competency

 Because that’s what the brain will notice.

Pull out the 4 W's (Who, What, When, Where) page — in the  Behavior Detective Checklist. Walk through the Student Needs Checklist page —-. Cross-check with the Strengths & Struggles Chart for ADHD, ASD, Sensory, Trauma, and Anxiety.

Their brain noticed something. Your job is to figure out what.

When a brain is over-noticing use the The Classroom Environment Kit. Use Sensory Friendly Space page —, Designating Spaces page —, Routines page —, and the What Are Your Triggers? Page—  reflection to lower what the brain is flagging as threat.

Once the survival brain isn't running the show? Check out Soft Starts on page —, Predictability on page — and Cue, Chunk Chew page —- in The Instruction Kit. 

Give the brain something worth noticing- clear, low-cost, predictable input the PFC thinking brain can easily hold onto.

When you can pinpoint what the brain is noticing as survival you can direct attention to learning. You can’t direct attention to learning until you can point out what the brain is noticing as survival.

Don't have The Neurodivergent Toolkit yet? Grab it 👉 [HERE]

Closing Thought 🍃

Noticing happens before deciding. Before behavior. Before words are even formed.

When a student's behavior is throwing the classroom off, remember: their brain noticed something. Something flagged as important. Something that mattered to them, even if you can't see it yet.

Your job isn't just to direct attention. It's to understand what your students' brains are already noticing — and to build instruction and an environment where what gets noticed is mostly safe, predictable, and worth paying attention to.

Next post: How does the brain decide what to do with what it noticed? That's where Lisa Feldman Barrett, the brain's body budget, and a memorable coffee date come in. ☕

Citations

• Sapolsky, R. M. (2017). Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst. Penguin Press.

• Duhigg, C. (2012). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. Random House.

• Treisman, A. M. (1964). Selective attention in man. British Medical Bulletin, 20(1), 12–16.

• van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking.