{"id":271,"date":"2013-07-31T01:11:43","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T01:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scqa.hult.edu\/en\/news\/hult-labs\/2013\/july\/old-dogs--new-tricks-a-perfect-match-its-not-too-late-to-learn-new-things\/"},"modified":"2019-07-10T11:16:57","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T11:16:57","slug":"old-dogs-new-tricks-its-never-too-late-to-learn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/old-dogs-new-tricks-its-never-too-late-to-learn\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Dogs & New Tricks: It\u2019s Never Too Late To Learn"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s said that you can\u2019t teach an old dog new tricks, but you can teach an old(er) barn owl new skills by breaking them up into manageable, bite-sized steps. Seriously, a neuroscientist tried and succeeded<\/a>. What does this mean for dogs? Or more importantly, what, if anything, does this means for humans? Well, it turns out that human adults\u2014the most senior ones among us included\u2014are also capable of learning new skills, whether it\u2019s learning how to play a musical instrument or becoming fluent in a new language. The adult brain may get rusty with age in some ways, but it doesn\u2019t lose the ability to pick up new tricks. There\u2019s promise for us all!<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s one example: Gary Marcus wanted to learn a new skill. More specifically, he wanted to learn how to play the guitar. At the time, he was 40 years old. He wasn\u2019t so sure how he would fair, but he was undaunted. Marcus was skeptical about his ability to pick up the guitar because of a widely held theory known as the \u201ccritical-period effect.\u201d He describes it in his article \u201cHappy New Year Pick Up a Skill<\/a>\u201d as \u201cthe idea that you can\u2019t do certain things\u2014like learn a language, or learn an instrument\u2014unless you start early in life. It\u2019s a discouraging thought for anyone past adolescence.\u201d But again, Marcus was undaunted. So he set out to learn the guitar, and write about the adventure. Fortunately, he also documented new research that shows it\u2019s not too late for people to learn a new skill\u2014not even if they\u2019d been written off as a \u201clost cause\u201d, or as someone beyond the point of benefiting from new learnings, therapy, or treatment. So let\u2019s blow that thinking out the water, shall we?<\/p>\n

Going beyond his own experience with the guitar, Marcus cites very compelling findings from a study<\/a> by vision researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. The study results showed that people with amblyopia or \u201clazy eye,\u201d regardless of age, could improve their vision by\u2014wait for it\u2014playing video games.<\/p>\n

In an article<\/a> on the study, Sarah Yang wrote: \u201cThe study found that participants experienced marked improvement in visual acuity and 3-D depth perception after spending just 40 hours playing off-the-shelf video games.\u201d Before getting to why this is a big deal, you should know this: Yang reports that amblyopia \u201cis the most frequent cause of permanent visual impairment in childhood.\u201d This is why doctors believe it\u2019s critical to treat children with the condition as soon as possible, since most experts had believed that the window for treatment closes shut by the age of eight. As for adults who never received treatment in childhood, they were\u2014up until recently\u2014out of luck, and considered a lost cause.<\/p>\n

Yang quotes the study lead author, Roger Li, as saying: \u201cThis study is the first to show that video game play is useful for improving blurred vision in adults with amblyopia\u2026I was very surprised by this finding; I didn\u2019t expect to see this type of improvement.\u201d More research has been lined up\u2014for both children and adults\u2014but one thing is very clear: the myth that adults with amblyopia could never improve their vision has been shattered into bits. While vision experts and researchers have a lot more to learn, there\u2019s no doubt that the outcome of the study will likely make a very big difference in the lives of a lot of adults with the condition\u2014but they will also have to put in the time and effort to work on improving their vision. Maybe their newly developed skills on an X-Box will impress the neighborhood kids?<\/p>\n

And effort, for old(er) dogs, is the key. In his article \u201cThe Science Behind How We Learn New Skills<\/a>,\u201d Thorin Klosowski explains that as we pick up a new skill, it gets easier over time because your brain has to do less and less work. He quotes a neuroscientist from Cornell University as saying: \u201ctraining [or, practice, practice, practice] resulted in decreased activity in brain regions involved in effortful control and attention that closely overlap with the frontoparietal control and dorsal attention networks.\u201d OK, whoa. The point, writes Klosowski, is that \u201cover time, a skill becomes automatic and you don’t need to think about what you’re doing. This is because your brain is actually strengthening itself over time as you learn that skill.\u201d How is it strengthening itself exactly? It\u2019s engaging in a process called \u201clong-term potentiation,\u201d \u201cin which repeatedly stimulating two neurons at the same time fortifies the link between them,\u201d he writes. The more neuron links, the closer we are getting to mastering a skill.<\/p>\n

Klososwki has some other tips for how to get busy making your synapses fortify, and you can check them out here<\/a>. So what does this all mean? It means there are no more excuses. Whether you are 22 or 72, if you\u2019ve got the will, then it turns out there\u2019s very much a way. If you want to master the top principles of finance, learn a new language, or become a sizzling salsa dancer\u2014you can: plain and simple. Will it be easy? Not at all. But science is helping us to figure out that our brains are in fact receptive to learning at any age. It\u2019s not just the young pups that can learn new tricks\u2014it\u2019s the old(er) \u201cdogs\u201d, too. Guitar Hero 5, anyone?<\/p>\n

Make the most of what your career has to offer with a Masters in International Business<\/a> from Hult. To learn more, take a look at our blog Why would anyone go back to school? Hint: Your career will thank you<\/a>, or give your employability a huge boost with an MBA in international business<\/a>. Download a brochure or get in touch today to find out how Hult can help you to explore everything about the business world, the future, and yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s said that you can\u2019t teach an old dog new tricks, but you can teach an old(er) barn owl new skills by breaking them up into manageable, bite-sized steps. 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