The brain craves positive training, education and experience throughout the life span, according to science writer Ronald Kotulak. According to Kotulak, scientists now realize that the brain actually organizes and constructs itself, something no other organ does. The brain's plasticity means that new learning and relearning can take place at any age. Huttenlocher's studies show that this explosion of synaptic connections halts around the age of six, and the brain begins to eliminate unused connections. The brain is like a block of marble, and we have to use outside experiences to shape it into a working organ.
Experience sculpts neural networks for language, vision, thinking and other capacities.
Researchers are finding that the nascent brain is extremely fertile for the seeds of good or evil. On a brighter note, Kotulak reports in his book that mental training in old age can boost intellectual power, help maintain mental functions like problem solving, and reverse memory decline. Even if they haven't received the benefits of good early education and experience, older adults can still do much to keep their brains in shape. Buchsbaum is director of the school's Neuroscience pet Laboratory. The research again links predisposition back to education.