How to Train the Aging Brain – An article on neural plasticity from NY Times – “While it’s tempting to focus on the flaws in older brains, that inducement overlooks how capable they’ve become. Over the past several years, scientists have looked deeper into how brains age and confirmed that they continue to develop through and beyond middle age. [...] The brain, as it traverses middle age, gets better at recognizing the central idea, the big picture. If kept in good shape, the brain can continue to build pathways that help its owner recognize patterns and, as a consequence, see significance and even solutions much faster. [...] With a brain already full of well-connected pathways, adult learners should “jiggle their synapses a bit” by confronting thoughts that are contrary to their own. Teaching new facts should not be the focus of adult education. Instead, continued brain development and a richer form of learning may require that you “bump up against people and ideas” that are different.”
I’d argue that memorization of disconnected facts shouldn’t be the focus of youthful education pursuits, either.
