Can We Keep on Learning, Whatever Our Age?
Hello, and welcome back,
Can you really teach an old dog new tricks?
Of course I’m referring to humans here—Caroline will address this question with regard to your dogs! But for those of us on two legs, I’m happy to tell you that the answer is ‘yes’, although this represents a recent shift in thinking. For many years, scientists didn’t think much new learning was possible once we reached late adulthood, and that many cognitive abilities—for example, processing speed, creative thinking, and the ability to screen out distractions—were assumed to decline with age.
But in 2002, a team of scientists across America decided to try boosting cognitive skills by offering ten hours of ‘cognitive retraining’ to over 2800 adults. Participants were offered memory retraining, training to increase reasoning skills (for example, learning to find patterns in letters and word series) and learning how to speed up cognitive processing (this was accomplished by identifying objects on a screen as quickly as possible despite distractions).
The results? All types of retraining improved the relevant ability. Even better, the researchers found the improvements were maintained when participants were tested five years later.
So…what I’m going to do today, based on this research, is to give you a challenge:
I invite you to choose a skill you think would be difficult to mater, and set about mastering it. if you’re older, challenge yourself. If you’re still young, ask an older friend or relative if they’d like to try rising to the challenge with you, and see who gets there first.
The formula for success is based on what I call the three R’s:
REPEAT: When we’re older, we need more attempts than we did when we were younger before we master a new skill.
REFORMULATE: Try learning the same material/skill in different ways. For example, instead of repeating what you want to remember, try singing it, or writing it in different colours of ink, or representing it as an image.
REWARD: Congratulate yourself after each accomplishment, however small.
What sort of task should you choose? Based on what the scientists found in the cognitive retraining experiment, here are some possibilities:
Learn to play a new musical instrument
Take new routes to familiar places
Learn to play a video action game that interests you
Make a long random word list and figure out how to remember all the items on that list
Learn a new craft—for example, knitting, crocheting, or sculpting
And above all, whatever your age, remain curious. Seek new challenges and discoveries every day.
Until next time, I send you my very best,
Linda