By Betsy Hill and Roger Stark
As neuroscience advances, the public increasingly benefits from clearer insights about how the brain works. One concept gaining wide acceptance in education and beyond is neuroplasticity. Simply put, neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change: it continuously forms and strengthens connections among neurons and eliminates connections that aren’t used. This ongoing rewiring is the foundation for how we learn, remember, and adapt throughout life.
Scientists have long agreed that the brain is highly plastic during early childhood—a period when rapid learning is essential. Infants and young children must learn to interpret visual input, grasp objects, walk, distinguish speech sounds, and form language. During these formative years the brain builds extensive neural networks that support vocabulary, factual knowledge, motor skills, and memory. That early plasticity enables intense learning in a relatively short timeframe.
Recent research shows that similar wiring processes underlie higher-order thinking, self-regulation, and creativity. For example, studies by Dr. Silvia Bunge at the University of California, Berkeley, highlight the importance of long-distance connections between the prefrontal cortex and parietal regions for reasoning. Stronger physical connectivity in these pathways at age six predicted reasoning ability later in life.
But a weak connection at an early age is not a final verdict. Bunge’s work also indicates that reasoning skills and their neural architecture can improve in adulthood when people undertake focused learning. Adult brains remain capable of structural change, which supports the idea that cognitive skills can be developed beyond childhood.
Compelling evidence for adult neuroplasticity comes from a study of London taxi drivers. The training to learn London’s complex street layout—known as “The Knowledge”—takes several years. Scans of drivers’ brains before and after this training revealed physical changes in the hippocampus, a brain region tied to spatial memory and consolidation of short-term into long-term memory. This research demonstrates that intense learning can reshape adult brain anatomy.
Aging alters how neuroplasticity operates, but it does not eliminate it. Researchers at McGill University found that older adults can show even greater plastic responses in some contexts. However, changes in the aging brain may not be as durable as in younger brains, suggesting that continued practice and reinforcement help maintain gains from adult learning and cognitive training.
Psychologist Gary Marcus has argued that the notion of a strict “critical period” for all learning in childhood is overstated. If learning windows remain open longer than previously thought, how can we harness that potential? The key is to keep learning with the curiosity and flexibility of a child: reduce perfectionism, focus on outcomes, and use varied, adaptive practice rather than repeating the same routine. Practicing a skill in diverse contexts improves transferability and long-term retention.
Consider a practical example from sports. A basketball player may practice free throws from the standard line until they are highly consistent. Yet research suggests that varying shooting distances and practice conditions leads to better overall performance. Training across a range of situations forces the brain to adapt, strengthening the underlying neural networks and improving skill flexibility.
Studies on language learning provide more evidence that sensitive periods can extend into adolescence and young adulthood. Research from Boston College indicates that the optimal window for acquiring certain aspects of language may extend into the late teens, rather than closing around ages seven or eight as once believed. These findings carry implications for education policy, language instruction, and our broader understanding of development.
Advances in brain imaging and molecular neuroscience have clarified how neuroplasticity works at finer scales. Researchers at Harvard Medical School have shown that neurons involved in forming new memories are more flexible than once thought: when some neurons are no longer needed for a memory, others in that network can be repurposed efficiently. Other studies have identified molecules that promote the formation of new synapses—the tiny junctions where neurons communicate—highlighting how synaptic plasticity underlies learning and network reorganization.
Neuroplasticity can be especially powerful after injury. For example, infants who suffer a perinatal stroke on the left hemisphere often develop language abilities in the right hemisphere instead. In many cases these children, and later as teenagers and young adults, display language production and comprehension at levels appropriate for their age, demonstrating the brain’s capacity to reroute functions to alternate regions.
Beyond recovery from injury, the study of neuroplasticity is guiding new approaches to neurodegenerative disease and cognitive decline. Research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggests that some people experiencing cognitive decline still retain enough plasticity for improvement, and that targeted interventions may help restore function or stabilize abilities, potentially extending quality of life for individuals and their families.
Neuroplasticity also informs therapies for a range of neurological differences. Current research explores how targeted training can strengthen attention, working memory, and sensory processing, and how plasticity-driven interventions might benefit conditions from autism spectrum disorders to sensorimotor syndromes.
In short, neuroplasticity means our brains are dynamic: they become what they do. By intentionally practicing, learning, and exposing ourselves to new challenges, we can influence how our brains develop across the lifespan. This growing scientific knowledge offers hope for education, rehabilitation, and lifelong cognitive health.
About the authors
Betsy Hill is President of BrainWare Learning Company, which applies neuroscience to build learning capacity. An experienced educator, she has studied neuroscience and education with leading experts and has served as chair of the board of trustees at Chicago State University. She also teaches strategic thinking in an MBA program, has received a Contribution to Learning Excellence Award, and holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and an MBA from Northwestern University.
Roger Stark is Co-founder and CEO of BrainWare Learning Company. He has led efforts to make comprehensive cognitive skills training and assessment widely accessible, driven by questions about how the brain learns. He helped develop BrainWare SAFARI, an evidence-based, integrated online cognitive training program focused on improving cognitive literacy.
This article was originally published by The Learning Counsel, a research institute and news media hub focused on the shift in education to digital curriculum.