Читать книгу Brain Fitness for Women - Sondra Kornblatt - Страница 13

More important than how many main cells we have is how we use and connect the ones that stick around. These connections create maps (neural pathways) that constantly change as our moldable brain grows, learns, and matures. Those brain circuits that we actively maintain will remain and even grow stronger.

Your neural pathways constantly change as your brain grows, learns, and matures.

Researchers at Virginia University found that abilities based on accumulated knowledge keep increasing until age sixty.¹⁴ However, this study's results were based on behavior, not the biology of the brain; it also does not address the effects of practice on strengthening cognition.¹⁵

When you take up a new hobby, like playing the guitar or knitting, your brain designates more cell power to this new activity. As you stick with it, the brain accommodates this new knowledge by changing or creating neural maps and maybe even assigning extra neurons to help. You go from remembering what fingers to use for the C-minor chord to just knowing it. What if you stop for a while? If you’re a winter knitter, don't worry—those neural connections won't disappear over the summer. They just focus on something else. They’ll be there next winter, though it might take them a little time to get their knit-purl connections back.

Practice may not always make perfect, but it does help you rearrange your neurons and connections. Don't worry about feeling dumb while you're learning. You're just ushering your neurons into place.