What happens in the brain when we learn?

Neuroplasticity is the mechanism that produces learning. Each person’s capacity for learning is determined both by genetics and by education. For example, each person’s IQ will, for the most part, be determined by genetics, but intellectual effort can also affect the plasticity of the brain and one’s abilities.

Even if you have a genetic predisposition for learning, it will be nothing more than potential if you don’t know how to develop it. If you don’t use it, not only are you not developing it, but you’ll also lose the possibility of doing so.

The proliferation of new neurons is astounding, but as we get older, this capacity decreases.

Nevertheless, neurogenesis  continues even when we get older. The old belief that we’re born with a determined number of neurons, and that throughout life we do nothing more than l...