Neurons that fire together wire together

As you think, your brain reacts and reconfigures itself, modifying its architecture to facilitate similar thinking in the future. Like other animals, our brains come with a few pre-made blueprints, easily learnable patterns; evolved for some genetically-anticipated environments. For instance, it's really easy to learn how to fear snakes, you just have to watch someone jump back from a snake. Nonetheless, we are born with radically adaptable brains that can create and manifest neural blueprints on the fly; a new brain is capable of mastering any language or culture.

Brain reconfiguration is happening at a deep cellular level; and possibly deeper than that (methylation, RNA/DNA storage, somatic evolution, quantum fields, EVOs ...). But for the cellular structures in the brain to alter themselves, they first consume old volume and then rebuild it with new volume. This phenomenon was initially discovered by the Canadian scientist Donald Olding Hebb, who's primary contribution can be summed up as "neurons that fire together wire together". His theories have been extended since, but generally speaking the automatic cellular reconfiguration of the brain is called neuroplasticity.

Compared to other animals, human children exhibit a remarkably large brain-to-body-size ratio. These children, along with their sizable brains, are typically protected and nurtured by adults for an extended period. This extended care allows their brains the opportunity to undergo rapid changes or even complete reorganizations with a resulting memory wipe.

Consequently, human survival strategies have been outsourced from genetically encoding into cultural knowledge. This shift enables humans to utilize their advanced cognition and problem-solving abilities, to invent things and then encode that knowledge back onto their culture. The shift contributes to greater cultural complexity, leading to a series of developmental learning stages that are more numerous and intricate than those found in other animals. So we have very lengthy childhoods, where we spend a long time being physically vulnerable, yet as a species, we have become incredibly adaptable and robust; culture evolves faster than genomes.

As a human ages, the evolutionary trade-offs related to the brain's adaptability change. As we mature, the brain is less inclined to overwrite old neural networks. The fact that this older neural network has survived and functioned for as long as it has – in a living person who has survived as long as they have – suggests a high probability its volume contains critical cultural knowledge. Of course there is no actual thinking going on here, it's just a survival heuristic imprinted within our genome.

From a group survival standpoint, it would be disadvantageous to overwrite old, field-tested neural pathways with new information. So as people age, their brains automatically become less malleable, essentially turning them into "walking libraries of precious books" for the younger members of the community. The cultural knowledge has to exist somewhere, and it's largely held in old brains. The older brains fix themselves in time, sacrificing that human's learning potential for the benefit of the group.

Your brain's plasticity isn't just controlled by your physiology though, you can change it with drugs or with direct cognitive intervention.

We have learned how to undo brain damage by using certain drugs to induce a state of heightened brain plasticity, nudging it to act like a younger brain. Then through disciplined training and thinking, new neural structures grow and quickly self organize, healing the brain. Psilocybin mushrooms and other psychedelics have been shown to increase plasticity. As a result, many veterans returning from combat are turning to psilocybin mushrooms as part of their treatment regimen. They take the mushrooms, then engage in talk therapy to address and alleviate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This approach has also shown promise in aiding the recovery from physical brain injuries, such as those caused by concussions.

Human children and human elders would both be happier if we let them mingle more, but if we are going to continue to sequester and squander our elders, then maybe they should start using the same drugs as the veterans. This way they can experience the joy of learning and active contribution as they age.

Let's now talk about something that is practically useful for everyone. The act of building new neural cellular structures, to consolidate a memory, takes time. To facilitate learning, actively engage with the material you wish to remember. Reflect on it and how its connected to your existing knowledge – your mental associations. Continue this reflective thinking until it no longer feels productive or you feel naturally tired from the effort. Then take a moment to relax and let go of focused thought. After a suitable pause (6-10 minutes), think about things in the reverse direction: revisit your associations and contemplate how each connects back to the original material. Relax once more to allow your mind to consolidate the memories.

By constructing neural links in both directions, you create highly routable thinking pathways, you can think from your studied material to it's association or in the reverse direction. By having more than one mental association, you build redundant strategies for how to recall the new information when you want to remember it.

During these study-relaxation sessions your brain is building the cellular assemblies and connections. So avoid active thinking, reading, using digital devices, or distractions such as looking at people you find attractive. Instead, gaze at the sky or simply allow yourself to space out. During these periods, practice deep, quality breathing to supply your brain with the necessary resources to facilitate its work.

Your brain is trying to help you, but you can help your brain too.