Senior woman looking off into space (© Image Source/Getty Images)

May the elderly be excused from new knowledge? Their brains are full

1/24/2013

For the elderly, trying to learn new information can sometimes be a challenge, but it isn't because veteran brains have a hard time retaining new information. As it turns out, when we reach old age, our brains are too full of existing information to make room for anything new. Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University genetically modified the brains of mice to resemble those of adult humans. The mice still showed the ability to learn new information, but as they aged, they were unable to make room in their knowledge-crammed brains for anything else. So that "my brain is full" excuse you used to try in high school wasn't a lie — it's just not true yet. [Source]

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