When does your brain stop learning and reasoning? I heard it was 41 but is it different for most people?

Answer 1

Your brain has several years from birth to adulthood where major development and growth takes place, but then it matures and just kind of functions in maturity. I don't off hand have the answer with regard to any age brain cells may start to be lost more than they aren't. I can tell you, though, that my particular brain continues to learn (and in fact is probably learning more and more faster and faster than ever before, or at least that's what it feels like) and reason (far more efficiently, logically, and even advanced than in my earlier life).

It is generally accepted that people who keep their minds active have better mental functioning later in life (as long as they don't get sick or Alzheimer's). A few years ago a news program visited a convent where the nuns are all quite elderly (late 80's/90's), and they were all very active all their lives. They had no dimentia and excellent brain functioning. It was attributed to how active they have always been and remain.

I compare my own brain to a computer: When I was younger it was like a new computer with some neat software and files in it. As I've grown it feels as if the computer is good as new, only now it has tons and tons or additional programs and files, which make it run even better than ever and make it do far more things. I know this isn't a scientific point I've made, but I wanted to make the point that some people have brains that work better and better. I suppose there's the chance my brain isn't building new brain cells as quickly or in the numbers it once was, but I think even if that's the case the additional "programs" and "files" make my brain far more capable than it was when I was younger. The more information a brain has the more it has to work with.

Using myself as an example, I can tell you that even though I'm old enough to have grown children I got my right hand (which is what learned to use the computer's mouse) to learn how to free-hand draw in the paint program even though I'm heavily left-handed when it comes to writing and drawing. I can tell some kind of connections have no been made between my right hand and brain; and I've tried to use my "real" drawing hand (left) to use the paint program, and I can't do it. Another point is that stroke patients develop new brain connections after brain damage. It takes time, but it happens.

For many very elderly people there may be stresses and worries in their life that make them preoccupied to the point where they sometimes can't concentrate or forget things. Sometimes medications or medical conditions can affect their brain's ability to remember or concentrate. Stress causes elevated blood pressure and cortisol, and both cause trouble concentrating. Many elderly people have also had much loss in their life or have to deal with the grief of moving out of their homes or not being able to get around very well - and nobody with grief or chronic sadness can concentrate very well. In other words, a lot of what looks like diminished brain functioning in elderly people is nothing more but their living in less than optimal situations. Depression can affect a person's reasoning ability as well. Many elderly people have depression.

Getting enough physical exercise has also been associated with better brain functioning.

I answer questions on this site because I've been in the house quite a bit recently (not much work these days), and I thought that challenging my mind by trying to come up with some good answers to some questions would be good mental exercise. Its not that I'm so old I'm worried about my brain. I've always been very, very, intellectually busy.

I don't know how old you are or if you simply worded your question in a way that could have been worded better, but middle-aged people and older people who are healthy (or even mostly healthy) don't stop learning and certainly don't stop reasoning. the ability to learn quickly and easily and the ability to reason are associated with a person's IQ.

I know there is some point in life when brains and other parts of a living being stop being in a growth process and start being in a declining process, but this shift is super-gradual. I imagine its like someone who is building a house for years, finally the house is built to the point where he can move in and use it, but then he may keep adding a few things on or doing a few repairs while he's living in it.

This is absolutely unscientific, but for some reason (maybe observing or just logic/reason or some little scientific knowledge) I tend to think we are supposed to live to be 100, with the first 25 years being growth, the next 50 being maturity, and the final 25 being decline. Life spans are not what they should be because we still do not live lifestyles that would generally give us the best lifespans; and up until a few decades ago people were working themselves to early death.

Even, however, if you base things on a 75-year life span (pretty much how things are in reality) it would make sense that the first 25 years are growth, the second 25 maturity, and the final 25 decline. Since, however, more and more people are living to be 100 it would seem to be clear that there is no "natural programming" for life to end at 75 and for an extra 25 years to be "just a little longer". Just some thoughts about aging. (Science backs up my belief that the first 25 years is a growth phase because bones are not finished until that age, and now it is said that the pre-frontal cortex may not be complete until close to that age as well.)

It is also now known that having a child or children actually does things to the brain of mothers (and to a lesser degree even fathers) not just because of the birth of the child/children but as a result of the caring for it/them. There are a whole lot of 41-year-olds who have children, so the idea that having children keeps people young may be more scientific than anyone previously thought.

Drugs, alcohol, poor diet, little exercise, little intellectual activity, and mental and physical health problems are probably likely to affect the efficiency and health of any brain. It is generally understood that alcohol and some drugs destroy brain cells.

I don't know how old you are, but if you're on the older side I hope what I've offered has been reassuring. If you're on the young side, I hope it has helped you realize that if you play your cards right you have a whole lot more good decades than you apparently think you do.

If you imagine how there's a point where a brain reaches maturity, obviously it doesn't need to keep growing. Just because it isn't in the process of maturing, though, doesn't mean it doesn't function as well. The whole point of "maturity" is that something has reached its optimum point of wholeness and functioning. The brain that isn't finished maturing isn't, as I said, "finished". Being in the growing phase shouldn't necessarily be seen as being in a superior phase. Obviously, a whole, mature, finished, brain will function better and more completely.

So, having exercised and defended my middle-aged brain (which happens to be pretty good at logic and reasoning and any number of other skills), I'm done.

Answer 2

Scientists used to think that the brain stopped growing at a relatively early age (likely around 41/middle age).

However, neuroscience has discovered that the brain has a high level of platicity (ability to grow/change) throughout the entirety of human life.

This is not to say, though, that some people's brains do not to a large extent cease to grow and change as they age. Although factors that affect plasticity are being discovered all the time, it seems like in general the brain is most plastic when we are very young, and we tend to lose plasticity as we age unless we use our brains.

This helps explain why some old people are very set in their ways while others are more adaptable. Some people over the course of their life develop very strong connections between some neurons (and thus think pretty much the same way for most of their lives), while others develop more flexible connections. Anyone at any age can learn, but unless learning and thinking is a practiced activity it's sometimes harder to do.

Answer 3

You stop learning when your brain ceases to process the information it gathers from the senses -- to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste.

You're ALWAYS learning and reasoning whether the environment or people you see are safe or a threat, whether the food you're about to eat is poisonous or healthy, whether you check out the source when you smell smoke (is your house on fire?).

Survival of the fittest -- fight or flight.

You have to continuously use what you've already learned to survive each minute of the day. Your brain interprets signals from the senses and you learn and reason that the person you just met is your mother and she is safe to interact with (in most cases).

Answer 4

By my ex I would say 43. At least in men.

Answer 5

Never ever

Answer 6

When you die. Or when you get elected into public office.