There’s this popular scientific and popular conception that just as every organ of our body grows weaker with age, our brain does as well. The result of that is believed to be a decline in cognition, including speed of processing, memory, attention.

Although people acknowledge that muscles can be strengthened by exercise at any age, preventing your body from going down the inevitable decline path, they don’t see the adult brain the same way. It is widely accepted that the immature brain of a child has a strong capacity for change, and that is why training and exposure in early years are incredibly important for one’s future. However, the adult brain is seen as fixed, static and fully established. So is this narrative correct?

The Case for Brain Plasticity

Neuronal plasticity refers to durable changes at the neuronal level that have been shown by empirical work to be stimulated by experience, both cognitive and physical. Examples of neuronal plasticity include neurogenesis, synaptogenesis, dendritic arborization and network reorganization.

First, studies have continuously showed that adult neurogenesis — the birth of new brain cells — is possible, both in animals and humans: Joseph Altman reported it in cats (1971), Fernando Nottlebohm reported it in birds (2002), Michael Kaplan proved it in rats (1977) and Peter Eriksson proved it in humans’ hippocampi (1998).

If the brain were truly fixed, it would not be capable of generating new neurons.

Second, research has proved that training in adult years could lead to changes in the brain organization, specifically in the cortex. Bogdan Draganski showed that a group of people learning to juggle for 3 months displayed an enlarged MT area and intraparietal sulcus after training, and these expansions were reversed (although not fully) 3 months after their practice stopped (2004). There’s ample evidence that neuroplasticity exists, with pioneering work coming from the research groups of Michael Merzenich and Edward Taub.

These results indicate a retained capacity to undergo change in the adult brain. This capacity has a special term: plasticity. Your brain is plastic, and you have the power to change it at any age. It is not “hard-wired” as fatalistic views have certified, but actually “soft-wired”.

Implications of Neuroplasticity

This idea is extremely important: As the population is aging, and economic recession has decreased people’s savings, older people are going to be staying in the workforce longer. These people will have to be cautious of their physical and cognitive health. Aging affects mental functions such as attention, memory, perception, speech and language, decision-making and problem-solving. Decline to cognition due to age is often seen as an inevitable route.

But a big proportion of older adults do not exhibit signs of cognitive decline, and that might have to do with their neuroplasticity. Our ability to change our brain at any age means we can take control of our processes and lead a better life. If the brain is capable of change at any age, that means we can become faster, more attentive, with a better memory, at any age. It means that even with the burden of injury and/or aging, we can still take control of our cognition. Neuroplasticity is our best bet not to fall down the path of cognitive decline.

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.” — Henry Ford