#1 - Lego and Learning: What it means to work hard and play hard.

Some of you may have played with Lego when you were younger. Others may have siblings who played with Lego. You may even have children who absolutely love Lego and I, for one, do not blame them. This classic test of creativity originates from the Danish phrase, ‘leg godt’, meaning to ‘play well.’ Now I don’t know about you, but I bought a Lego set of The Big Bang Theory (TBBT) a few years back and it took me roughly 3 hours to build with no breaks (see Figure 1). I was exhausted, to say the least, but I guess I…played well?

As scientists, our lives (partly) revolve around finding evidence. Of course, lots of people love Lego, but what impact does it have on our long-term cognition? An empty box of bricks forces us to unleash our creativity and make towering cities filled with various components. But other than that, what else do we know about the mystical powers of the studded blocks?

Allowing creativity in this day and age, is one thing that can be lacking in a child’s lifestyle, especially given the rise of technology and its rapid evolution. Anyone from my generation and older would remember dial-up internet - shouting across the house at someone to get off the phone as you tried to fire up the internet. Almost like a caveman. Now, everyone’s got their own phones, iPad’s, what-have-you.

Disclaimer: I’m not against technology, but I’m just curious as to how it may be impacting the creativeness of young kids. This was put succinctly by Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2015, where they described the ‘boom’ of technology. They outlined the 4 key pillars of learning, which involve promoting developing of the following in young children:

1) activity

2) engagement

3) meaningful

4) social interaction

The last time I played with Lego bricks was when I built that TBBT set. In the silence of my bedroom, I’ll admit.

So any social interaction was albeit…gone.

But the first 3 pillars were definitely there - I was actively engaging my mind and I had an end goal of putting it together and showing it off. 

Shamelessly, might I add.

But various apps of today lack some of these pillars, which may impact long-term development, especially given how much ‘screen time’ youngsters are exposed to as well as ourselves.

Another factor is spatial awareness and proprioception; the ability to understand how your body moves within the surrounding space. Additionally, evidence has indicated that interaction with Lego induces dopamine release. Dopamine, in simple terms, is a neurotransmitter often associated with rewarding effects. There are many receptors for dopamine found in your brain, but the most concentrated is in the hippocampus, an important region for memory consolidation.

Yang et al., 2016, detailed how activation of these dopamine receptors in the hippocampal region, were important for learning and memory. A test called the ‘novel object recognition’ (NOR) was used, in which mice would remember objects they had seen before, hence would infer the effectiveness of dopamine receptors in consolidating memory.

Removing (or knocking out) these dopamine receptors caused mice to stop seeking out new objects and they kept fiddling around with old objects. However, for normal mice (or what we call wild type), they had their dopamine receptors in-tact and were able to ‘learn’ more, by inspecting the new objects they hadn’t come across before. Cool right?

Though Lego might not induce such a dopamine rush in the parents buying these sets for their kids. I mean, I found myself gazing fondly at a Hogwarts Castle Lego set, but unwillingly backed away once I saw the price of over £300.

£300?! Dude…

Anyway…comment on Facebook or Instagram, what Lego sets do you (or your kids) own? Let’s get a discussion going!


Figure 1 - The Lego Big Bang Theory Set. Excuse the dust though... 


References (for your own perusal): 

The LEGO Foundation. 2021. Available from: https://www.legofoundation.com/en/

Hirsh-Pasek K, Zosh J, Golinkoff R, Gray J, Robb M, Kaufman J. Putting Education in “Educational” Apps. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. 2015;16(1):3-34.

Yang K, Broussard J, Levine A, Jenson D, Arenkiel B, Dani J. Dopamine receptor activity participates in hippocampal synaptic plasticity associated with novel object recognition. European Journal of Neuroscience. 2016;45(1):138-146.

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