Scientists used to believe that the brain stopped developing once humans reached adulthood. Advances in medical imaging technologies, however, have discredited this understanding of the brain, which we now recognize as an extraordinarily dynamic organ that continues to develop in response to environmental stimuli throughout our lives. This phenomenon is known as neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity allows our brains to continuously change and adapt, forging new neural connections as needed, and abandoning pathways we no longer use. Indeed, neuroplasticity makes it possible for the brain to cope with dramatic environmental changes, like traumatic injury, as healthy nerve cells seek out connections with each other to compensate for damage and restore function.
But even everyday experiences, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors shape the way your brain works, constantly strengthening those neural connections you use and weakening those you don’t. As you establish cognitive and behavioral patterns, you “wear in” particular neurological paths, using them again and again until they become second nature.
