Neuroplasticity and Its Implications for Learning and Memory

Have you ever wondered how our brains are able to learn new information? How are we able to memorise all the content for our school examinations, or pick up new skills as we go about doing our jobs? In this article, we will talk about the concept of neuroplasticity, and how this affects how we learn and store new information into our memory. 

What is neuroplasticity? 

According to Cherry (2024), neuroplasticity refers to the “brain’s ability to change and adapt due to experience”. The concept of neuroplasticity suggests that contrary to the belief that our brains stop growing past childhood, our brains actually are growing and being influenced by our daily activities. There are two categories that neuroplasticity can be differentiated by: 

1. Structural Neuroplasticity: This is when our brains change itself in response to what we do in our daily life 

2. Functional Neuroplasticity: This is when our brains change portions of itself to do different functions so that we can continue living properly. This usually happens after an accident that causes brain damage, which leads to certain parts of the brain not being able to work properly. 

An image of the two main types of neuroplasticity (Ramasubramanian, 2022)

The way our brains have been able to store information, or storing memories, is by being connected together in groups of neurons or nerve cells known as cell assemblies (Greshko, 2019). Neurons are the cells that allow the brain to send and receive information throughout the body. These neurons will sprout branches and form synapses (Rugnetta, 2025), which is the place where the information gets sent from one neuron to another. These synapses allow our brains - and in turn, us - to remember what we have learnt or done for the day. 

The part where neuroplasticity comes in is that these synapses can be changed: they can strengthen or weaken depending on how often you use these ‘connections’. For instance, if you were to practise a skill like driving very often, the part in your brain that stores the information of how to drive would have stronger synapses as the neurons there are used more often, which allows for much easier recall by you as a driver. 

However, if our brains were to store every synapse from the time we were born, our brains would be overwhelmed from all the new information that it has to keep up with. In fact, the average adult only has about half the number of synapses that we have as a child (Cherry, 2024)! As such, some of these synapses are to be removed to ensure that our brains are able to work more efficiently. This process of removing less used synapses is called synaptic pruning.  

Implications for learning and memory 

Now, what can this mean to help with our learning and memory? Well, this means that the more we use our knowledge to strengthen these ‘connections’, the more likely we are able to learn and remember what we have learnt better. This is often why when we do something regularly, we are able to remember more easily how to do it. 

However, due to the process of synaptic pruning, this means that if we do not regularly refresh our memory or practise what we have learnt, the synapses between the neurons may weaken, which causes them to get pruned and be lost. This will lead us to having to spend more time re-learning what we had learnt before, but can no longer remember as our brains had considered that this connection was useless. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, the concept of neuroplasticity refers to how our brain is able to change itself to allow us to take in new experiences and learn new things. This means that our ability to learn and form memories is not fixed and can continue to grow. We would be able to recall things more quickly as we continue to regularly use what we have learnt or repeat a certain action. This leads to the synapses between the neurons in our brains strengthening, allowing for us to recall information more easily or be more familiar with the tasks at hand. As such, if we want to remember something or ensure that we can learn something quickly, we should do things that can strengthen these connections so that it can be easier to recall our memories and apply what we are learning!

Works Cited 

Cherry, K. (2024). How Neuroplasticity Works. [online] Verywell Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-brain-plasticity-2794886 [Accessed 14 May 2025].

Greshko, M. (2019). Human memory: How we make, remember, and forget memories. [online] National Geographic. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/human-memory [Accessed 17 May 2025].

Ramasubramanian, L. (2022). Neuroplasticity. [online] UC Davis Biotechnology Program. Available at: https://biotech.ucdavis.edu/blog/neuroplasticity [Accessed 17 May 2025].

Rugnetta, M. (2025). neuroplasticity. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/science/neuroplasticity [Accessed 15 May 2025].