5 ms·

Sorry, Adults, No New Neurons for Your Aging Brains

28 points by azizsaya 9y ago

yorwba 9y ago
Different write-up, same topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16541444 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16541444
tudorw 9y ago
"cells whose functions aren't yet fully defined", so we have 'unprogrammed' neurons maybe, some spare capacity, created, defined but no value, good to know it's a static language in there :)
rasengan 9y ago
Marijuana promotes neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus [1]. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1253627/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1253627/
- tehwalrus 9y ago
  The old hypothesis was that many things — famously anti-depressants and excercise — promote neurogenesis. This study is refuting that whole bank of research, which was based on indirect observations.
bpizzi 9y ago
Somewhat related: I think this title should not be read as an hypothetical confirmation of the usual layman's asumption that 'kids learns better and faster that adults'. Which is a misconception I'm often confronted with and irritates me quite a bit, especially when it comes in its extreme flavour of 'I just can't learn this new field/langage/tool/technique because I'm not a kid anymore'. And I think you've already guessed what's the reaction when I try to explain in simple terms brain's plasticity and the fact that neural pathways can be made/upgraded threw sheer willforce. Something along 'well, don't try to teach me (about learning or whatever), I've already said that I can't learn anymore!'.
- hutzlibu 9y ago
  "kids learns better and faster that adults'. Which is a misconception I'm often confronted with and irritates me quite a bit, " Why is that a misconception? The example you give are from people saying can't learn at all, which is something different.
  - bpizzi 9y ago
    Actually I've put said example in a precise context: especially *when it comes in its extreme flavour* of 'I just can't learn this new field/langage/tool/technique because I'm not a kid anymore'. As for the misconception itself: 'kids learns better and faster that adults' can only be false, because if it was true then every kid would learn everything better/faster than any adult. Can a random kid learns cutting edge brain surgery techniques faster than every living adult? Nope, and here goes our misconception. Now I get what those persons are really trying to say: they mean 'When I was young I was required to learn, but now I'm grown you won't get me back to school'. Which is still irritating to me (in the context).
    - hutzlibu 9y ago
      "Can a random kid learns cutting edge brain surgery techniques faster than every living adult" If both would have the same level of knowledge, then yes, the random child would for sure learn the new techniques faster than the random adult. "'kids learns better and faster that adults' can only be false, because if it was true then every kid would learn everything better/faster than any adult" You simply mix up things here to support your basic, wrong claim. Children do learn faster than adults. Countless study's support that. But nobody claimed, like you wrongly did, that it is meant, that they can learn every skill faster, when skills have prerequisites, which they are missing, but the slower learning adult already have. And that there are obviously retards as well, sure thing. But again, nobody ever claimed that every child learns faster than every adult. "in general" is the catchphrase. Learned something? edit: to put away a bit of snarkynes. I do support your intentions and very much agree, that as long as we are alive we can and should learn new things. Stopping to learn equals death for me. So people who use that "can't learn as I am no child anymore" I pity their lazyness. But it still doesn't change the fact that children learn fast, because they indeed have to learn EVERYTHING and we already know quite a bit about the world ... so they are "optimized" to learn, while we are more "optimized" to using our knowledge and skills ...
mmjaa 9y ago
"Thats okay kids, enjoy the process of making new ones, while you still can." ;)
martyalain 9y ago
I think that the number of neurons is not the single parameter to take in consideration. At birth the brain is a kind of "soup" made of disconnected neurons - except a small kernel structured during the pre-natal life for basic managementof organs. Then repeated external stimuli create connections between neurons, stronger and more complex, leading to a functional brain with memory, "computing" capacities, redundancy, associative capacity. An old brain loses neurons, more and more, but thanks to brain's plasticity and permanent stimuli, it can keep most of its capacities for a long time. The problem is that the small hippocampus is a bottleneck. When it begins to be buried below beta-amiloid and tau-protein, the rest of the brain is still functional but no more reachable. It's the end. It's how I see those things. What do you think of that?
purplezooey 9y ago
I dunno. I feel smarter and sharper at 40 than I ever did in my 20s. Something else happening.

28 points by azizsaya 9y ago

Different write-up, same topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16541444 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16541444

tudorw 9y ago

"cells whose functions aren't yet fully defined", so we have 'unprogrammed' neurons maybe, some spare capacity, created, defined but no value, good to know it's a static language in there :)

rasengan 9y ago

Marijuana promotes neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus [1]. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1253627/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1253627/

tehwalrus 9y ago
The old hypothesis was that many things — famously anti-depressants and excercise — promote neurogenesis. This study is refuting that whole bank of research, which was based on indirect observations.

bpizzi 9y ago

Somewhat related: I think this title should not be read as an hypothetical confirmation of the usual layman's asumption that 'kids learns better and faster that adults'. Which is a misconception I'm often confronted with and irritates me quite a bit, especially when it comes in its extreme flavour of 'I just can't learn this new field/langage/tool/technique because I'm not a kid anymore'. And I think you've already guessed what's the reaction when I try to explain in simple terms brain's plasticity and the fact that neural pathways can be made/upgraded threw sheer willforce. Something along 'well, don't try to teach me (about learning or whatever), I've already said that I can't learn anymore!'.

hutzlibu 9y ago
"kids learns better and faster that adults'. Which is a misconception I'm often confronted with and irritates me quite a bit, " Why is that a misconception? The example you give are from people saying can't learn at all, which is something different.
- bpizzi 9y ago
  Actually I've put said example in a precise context: especially *when it comes in its extreme flavour* of 'I just can't learn this new field/langage/tool/technique because I'm not a kid anymore'. As for the misconception itself: 'kids learns better and faster that adults' can only be false, because if it was true then every kid would learn everything better/faster than any adult. Can a random kid learns cutting edge brain surgery techniques faster than every living adult? Nope, and here goes our misconception. Now I get what those persons are really trying to say: they mean 'When I was young I was required to learn, but now I'm grown you won't get me back to school'. Which is still irritating to me (in the context).
  - hutzlibu 9y ago
    "Can a random kid learns cutting edge brain surgery techniques faster than every living adult" If both would have the same level of knowledge, then yes, the random child would for sure learn the new techniques faster than the random adult. "'kids learns better and faster that adults' can only be false, because if it was true then every kid would learn everything better/faster than any adult" You simply mix up things here to support your basic, wrong claim. Children do learn faster than adults. Countless study's support that. But nobody claimed, like you wrongly did, that it is meant, that they can learn every skill faster, when skills have prerequisites, which they are missing, but the slower learning adult already have. And that there are obviously retards as well, sure thing. But again, nobody ever claimed that every child learns faster than every adult. "in general" is the catchphrase. Learned something? edit: to put away a bit of snarkynes. I do support your intentions and very much agree, that as long as we are alive we can and should learn new things. Stopping to learn equals death for me. So people who use that "can't learn as I am no child anymore" I pity their lazyness. But it still doesn't change the fact that children learn fast, because they indeed have to learn EVERYTHING and we already know quite a bit about the world ... so they are "optimized" to learn, while we are more "optimized" to using our knowledge and skills ...

mmjaa 9y ago

"Thats okay kids, enjoy the process of making new ones, while you still can." ;)

martyalain 9y ago

I think that the number of neurons is not the single parameter to take in consideration. At birth the brain is a kind of "soup" made of disconnected neurons - except a small kernel structured during the pre-natal life for basic managementof organs. Then repeated external stimuli create connections between neurons, stronger and more complex, leading to a functional brain with memory, "computing" capacities, redundancy, associative capacity. An old brain loses neurons, more and more, but thanks to brain's plasticity and permanent stimuli, it can keep most of its capacities for a long time. The problem is that the small hippocampus is a bottleneck. When it begins to be buried below beta-amiloid and tau-protein, the rest of the brain is still functional but no more reachable. It's the end. It's how I see those things. What do you think of that?

purplezooey 9y ago

I dunno. I feel smarter and sharper at 40 than I ever did in my 20s. Something else happening.