New Clues on Brain’s Ability to Learn

Study Suggests Gray Matter in the Brain May Grow More Quickly Than Thought
By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

April 4, 2011 -- The adult brain may never be too old to learn new tricks.

A new study shows as little as two hours of “child-like” learning may be enough to stimulate growth of gray matter in the brains of mature adults.

Researchers say the findings suggest that the adult brain's ability to change -- or "plasticity" as it's known in medical terms -- occurs much faster than previously thought.

Prior studies have shown increases in gray matter in adults after weeks or months of training, but in this study researchers induced changes in less than two hours of training in which adults learned new, nonsensical names for colors.

(More here.)