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Unlike your eye color or your height, your brain can change over your lifetime. Through intentional effort, you can enhance our mental capacities – while inattention can cause your skills to wither.

Up until a few decades ago, science generally believed that the brain you were born with was the brain you’re stuck with. It was believed that once you hit adulthood, your brain stopped growing.

We now know this is not the case. Research into neuroplasticity demonstrates the many ways that the brain can change, even well into adulthood.

If you excelled at math as a youth, the brain’s plasticity means you can lose your capacity if you stop practicing those skills. This is the neuroplasticity principle of “use it or lose it."

The converse is also true. If you were terrible at math, you might never become a mathematician. But you can train your brain to overcome its deficits – the principle of “use it and improve it.”

Read the full transcript here: https://projectindra.org/apotheosis-podcast/episode-41-the-plastic-brain/