I think as you grow older you build a large web of knowledge where you can connect disparate pieces of information into a coherent framework. This should make o

I think as you grow older you build a large web of knowledge where you can connect disparate pieces of information into a coherent framework. This should make one easier to learn new material (eg reading your first scientific paper can take a very long time, but by the time you have read your 1000th, you will have built models to help digest information). However it may be that this developed framework can hinder new learning if new skills are fundamentally incompatible with existing framework. There old habits can slow down incorporation or new skills. For example, learning Japanese as an anglophone may be harder than learning Japanese as a Korean speaker. The anglophone would need to actively ignore learned habits to learn Japanese.