Life Long Learning
And
Brain Plasticity



Neuroplasticity occurs in the brain…

Through adulthood: when something new is learned

Plasticity, learning and memory
For a long time, it was believed that as we aged, the connections in
the brain became fixed, and then simply faded. Research has
shown that in fact the brain never stops changing through learning.
Plasticity is the capacity of the brain to change with learning.

Changes associated with learning occur mostly at the level of
connections between neurons: New connections form and the
internal structure of the existing synapses change. Did you know
that when you become an expert in a specific domain, areas in
your brain that deal with this type of skill will grow?

Extensive learning of abstract information can also trigger some
plastic changes in the brain. They imaged the brains of German
medical students 3 months before their medical exam and right
after the exam and compared them to brains of students who were
not studying for exam at this time. Medical students’ brains
showed learning-induced changes in regions of the parietal cortex
as well as in the posterior hippocampus. These regions of the
brains are known to be involved in memory retrieval and learning