Forgotten but not gone

Nerve cells retain many of their newly created connections and if necessary, inactivate only transmission of the information. This makes relearning easier.

Thanks to our ability to learn and to remember, we can perform tasks that other living things can not even dream of. However, we are only just beginning to get the idea of what really goes on in the brain when it learns or forgets something. What we do know is that changes in the contacts between nerve cells play an important role.

Scientists have recently been able to show that new cell contacts established during the learning process stay put even when they are no longer required.This enables our brain not only to learn very complex associations and sequences of movement, such as riding a bicycle, skiing, speaking different languages or playing an instrument, but to retain your ability to relearn these skills quickly long after you have put them aside.