The old expression “You learn something new every day” may very well be true: Research shows that the brain continues to form new neurons throughout life, especially if it’s kept healthy and stimulated with mental exercise. Learning is indeed a lifelong process, beginning even before you’re born and occurring every time you acquire and store a new piece of knowledge.

Many parts of the brain work together when you learn new information: First, a stimulus must be registered through the senses—whether it’s reading a statistic, hearing a song, tasting a strange food, or touching a hot stove for the first time. The brain then must decide how to react and adapt. Finally, this situation is stored as a long-term memory so you can recall that knowledge when needed.

Learning occurs when something is repeated over and over—this is why review is such an important component of classroom education. When you first try to ride a bike or memorize a new math formula, it’s difficult because your brain hasn’t formed new pathways between the neurons on which the information will be stored. But with practice and repetition, you get better as these connections grow stronger—and eventually you can perform the task or apply the formula without much conscious thought at all. The ability of the brain to form new connections and physically change shape in response to new experiences is called neuroplasticity.

Learning also seems to work best when several senses are involved; scent especially has been shown to help reinforce the process. In one study, when students inhaled a rose-scented odor first while playing a memory game and again later while they slept, they were better able to recall those memories the next day.

The simplest type of learning is nonassociative, in which a person or animal learns simply through repetition. Associative learning, also known as conditioning, occurs when the brain makes a lasting connection between two stimuli—an example is the classic experiment of Ivan Pavlov, who trained dogs to salivate and expect food every time he rang a bell.

ADDITIONAL FACTS

  1. Rote learning is an often-criticized technique that focuses on memorizing material so that it can be recalled exactly the way it was read or heard, while avoiding any complexities or actual understanding of the content.
  2.  Although physical connections are made between neurons within the brain when new information is learned, new visible “wrinkles” in the brain are not formed. The folds that can be seen on the outside of the cerebral cortex are there only so the brain can fit inside the head.
  3. Many methods have been suggested is to better retain memories. One herbal supplement said to increase retention, ginkgo biloba, is a tree native to Asia. Evidence is mixed, with many scientific studies showing it has no effect.