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Have you ever wondered what's happening inside your brain when you're learning something new? It's an amazing process! Let us walk through it with some easy-to-understand explanations and pictures.
Your brain is made up of about 100 billion tiny cells called neurons. These neurons form an incredibly complex network that allows signals and information to travel through your brain.
Each neuron has a cell body with branching dendrites to receive signals and a long axon that sends signals out. The axons are wrapped in insulation called myelin, which helps the signals travel faster and farther.
At the end of each axon are synapses—little junction points where the axon can pass a signal onto another neuron's dendrites. This is how neurons communicate, and information gets transmitted throughout your brain's vast neural network.
So how does your brain learn and store new information from your experiences and the things you study? It all comes down to strengthening certain connections between neurons through repeated firing of the same neural pathways.
Imagine you're learning how to shoot a basketball. The first few times, your brain has to work hard to coordinate all the actions—bending your knees, extending your arms, and arcing your shot at the right angle.
Many different areas of your brain are activating and sending signals back and forth as you practice. These include areas for movement, vision, sense of direction, and more.
The more you repeat the basketball shooting motion, the more those same neural pathways are firing together in sequence. Connections between the neurons are getting stronger and more efficient.
As those neural pathways are reinforced through repetition, the connections between the neurons grow closer together and transmit signals faster and more accurately. More insulation (myelin sheath) builds up around the axons in that pathway.
Chemicals called neurotransmitters also play a key role by ferrying signals across the synapses between neurons in a learned pathway. The more repetition and reinforcement, the stronger those chemical connections become as well.
The neural pathways and connections solidify into a robust network that represents the new information, skill, or memory being learned. This allows for quick recall and fluid execution of the learned behaviour or concept.
Essentially, your brain has re-wired and optimised part of its vast neural network to encode whatever it is you have learned through practice and repetition of the task or information.
The hippocampus is crucial for forming new memories. It helps you store facts, experiences, and information. Without the hippocampus, it would be difficult to remember what you just learned.
The cerebral cortex is the outer layer of the brain and is responsible for higher thinking. It helps you process information, solve problems, and make decisions. Different areas of the cortex handle different types of learning, such as visual or auditory information.
The prefrontal cortex helps you stay focused, plan, and make decisions. It’s important for learning strategies and organizing your thoughts. This part of the brain is also responsible for controlling your attention and helping you learn new concepts.
The cerebellum helps you learn physical activities, like riding a bike or playing sports. It helps you develop muscle memory, which makes actions automatic after enough practice.
The first step in learning is encoding, where your brain takes in new information. Paying attention is key at this stage because the brain decides which information to store and which to ignore.
After learning something new, the brain strengthens the memory during sleep or rest. This process is called consolidation. The hippocampus plays a big role in this, turning short-term memories into long-term ones.
Once a memory is stored, the brain retrieves it when needed. The more you practice or recall the information, the easier it becomes to access. This is why repetition is important for solidifying what you’ve learned.
Declarative learning involves learning facts and information you can consciously recall. For example, remembering a historical date or a math formula involves declarative learning.
Procedural learning involves learning tasks through repetition without much conscious effort. For example, typing on a keyboard becomes second nature over time through procedural learning.
Emotional experiences can impact how you learn. The amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for emotions, plays a role here. When you have a strong emotional reaction to something, the brain is more likely to remember it.
Social learning happens when you observe and imitate others. This type of learning involves mirror neurons, which help you understand and copy the actions of people around you.
Your ability to focus plays a key role in how well you learn. The brain has a limited amount of attention, so minimizing distractions can improve your learning. Techniques like setting a specific time for studying or working in a quiet environment can help.
Sleep is essential for learning and memory. During sleep, the brain consolidates and strengthens the memories you formed during the day. Lack of sleep can negatively affect your ability to learn and remember things.
Chronic stress can hinder learning by affecting the hippocampus, the area of the brain involved in memory. Stress releases a hormone called cortisol, which can interfere with your ability to concentrate and retain information.
The brain's reward system, which involves the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, plays a role in learning. When you are motivated or rewarded for learning something, it strengthens the learning process.
Active learning methods such as spaced repetition, self-testing, and breaking information into smaller chunks (chunking) help improve retention. Engaging deeply with the material and asking questions can also enhance understanding.
Practicing mindfulness can help improve focus and cognitive function. Techniques like meditation help train the brain to stay present and pay attention, which can improve learning.
Physical exercise is not only good for your body but also for your brain. Exercise increases blood flow to the brain and supports neuroplasticity, helping you learn better. Aerobic exercises like jogging or cycling can improve memory and cognitive abilities.
These facts illustrate how dynamic and adaptable the brain is when it comes to learning new things.
But what about the neural connections and pathways that don't get reinforced through repetition? Those will start to get pruned away and eliminated by your brain to optimise efficiency.
Your brain is constantly striving to run a tight ship in terms of its massive neural network, removing redundant or inactive connections while building up more insulation around the well-used, important pathways.
So the more you practise and repeat a new skill or dig into learning new knowledge, the more optimised and ingrained the corresponding neural pathways will become in your brain. And the pathways you don't use or reinforce will gradually be eliminated to streamline the overall network.
It's pretty amazing how your brain is always changing and reshaping itself through your experiences and interactions with the world around you! With curiosity, practice, and reinforcement of what you want to learn, you're continually optimising and expanding the incredible neural networks that make you who you are.
So keep exploring, keep practising skills, and keep feeding your brain with new information. Those neural pathways will solidify the new learning and truly make it a part of you.
The human brain's ability to learn and adapt is truly remarkable. By understanding how new neural pathways are built and reinforced through repetition while old ones are pruned away, we can optimise our learning processes. Whether picking up a new skill or studying a complex subject, embracing practice, curiosity, and an eagerness to build those stronger brain connections will serve us well. Our brains are constantly changing shape based on our experiences—what an amazing machine!
When we learn, neurons in our brain communicate through electrical signals. Repeatedly using the same neural pathways strengthens the connections between neurons, making.
Short-term memories into long-term ones, allowing us to retain information over time.
Yes, chronic stress releases cortisol, which can impair memory and concentration. Too much stress can hinder the brain’s ability to learn and retain information.
Nervous system in response to learning or experiences. It allows us to adapt and learn throughout our lives.
