Roundup

How Experience Shapes Your Brain

  • Published23 Aug 2019
  • Reviewed23 Aug 2019
  • Author Hannah Zuckerman
  • Source BrainFacts/SfN

When you’re learning how to perfectly bend your knees for a plié, your brain reacts by strengthening or weakening the connections between neurons. The brain’s ability to change — its plasticity — is what helps you learn so you can nail the plié next time. That capacity to change is vital — a brain damaged by injury or disease may be able to reroute connections or grow new neurons to regain some lost abilities. So, with each new dance move you learn, your experience shapes your brain to become uniquely yours.

Click on the targets in the image to learn more about how experience shapes your brain.

iStock.com/adamkaz

CONTENT PROVIDED BY

BrainFacts/SfN

Core Concepts

A beginner's guide to the brain and nervous system.

Explore

BrainFacts Book

Download a copy of the newest edition of the book, Brain Facts: A Primer on the Brain and Nervous System.

Download

Image of the Week

Check out the Image of the Week Archive.

Explore