The Brain is Less Flexible Than Previously Thought

New research from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh reveals that the brain reorganizes its neural activity when learning over the course of a few hours and that when learning a new task, the brain is less flexible than previously thought. The research examined the changes that take place in the brain when learning a new task. To see how neural activity changes during learning, scientists say we need to look at populations of neurons, rather than at one neuron at a time, which has been the standard approach to date. Imagine a tennis player whose friends have asked her to play squash. When she picks up the squash racket, it's lighter than the tennis racket she is used to, and it has a slightly different balance point. But since she's a good tennis player, this difference in rackets doesn't cause her to miss the ball completely. She adjusts quickly, but she hasn't immediately picked up the swing of a squash player.