Is It True That Learning Gets Harder As You Get Older?

This seems to be almost universally believed, but the evidence isn't straightforward. It is true that very young children, whose brains are not yet fully formed, absorb information at a rate that is never equalled again. Three year olds in a foreign country, for instance, will acquire the language with a speed that seems magical to their struggling parents. However, after childhood there is no direct correlation between age and learning ability, until the age of 65-70 when the brain does tend to slow down (though even this is by no means a given.) Otherwise, attitude is more important than age. Studies show that a motivated adult, for instance, will usually learn any subject more easily than a reluctant teenager. On the other hand, there is a tendency in late middle age for people to lose confidence in their ability to take in new knowledge – and this, rather than any real loss of ability, is often the cause of a less successful learning experience. In other words, you can do it if you think you can.