Joy: Emotion and Games in Learning
Joy emerges from a high frequency of small surprises; an oscillating exchange of prediction precision and prediction error.
Joy as a computation
This study sought to understand the value of emotion in learning, and how games create meaningful learning environments. To do this, the group explored concepts from embodied cognitive science, such as allostasis and free energy minimisation. Understanding living organisms as uncertainty reducing agents gave a context to explore games and emotion. These concepts were influenced by The Radically Embodied Conscious Cybernetic Bayesian Brain from Adam Safron, and from the pedagogy of world champion canine agility trainer Susan Garrett.
Joy in games
The irony of studying joy in such a cognitive way is not lost on me. To the end of bringing the study closer to its purpose, the group explored games as a medium of generating and resolving uncertainty. This included suggesting and playing games from the various cultures attending the groups, as well as conceptualising new games using a framework on games as negative feedback loops. Taking further inspiration from second generation behaviourists Marian and Keller Breland, the group considered games in the light of ancestral behaviours, such as hunting (tag), hiding (hide & seek), gathering (capture the flag).
Embodied cognition and spiritual traditions
Beginning the group with a study of embodied cognition afforded us a strong ground to explore from. Using the context of goal directed feedback loops, the group considered Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. Namely, we considered the question of what to do with suffering and desire. It seems that religious traditions are concerned with the transformation of these two states, but take varying paths to differing goals. Western spiritual traditions, such as Christianity, alchemy and Gnosticism appear to emphasise the creative transformation of suffering into strength. Eastern traditions, on the other hand, appear to aim for a transcending of suffering; an escaping of cycles of desire.
Cybernetics in games
Using cybernetic theory to create a framework for understanding games as goal-directed afforded a way of differentiating games from play as open ended exploration. By seeing games as negative feedback loops, it becomes easier to gamify a learning context. More than a simple negative feedback loop like a thermostat, games consist of multiple layers of goals, like “stay safe” and “play so you are invited back the next time”. This inclusion of nested hierarchical goal structures created a valuable conversation context for the group around what our aims our aims are as teachers and practitioners.