Repetition could be the most effective way to remember information, in that our brains naturally prioritize information they encounter repeatedly as worth preserving.
Skills are built through repetition too, even the ones that seem more like honing a talent than learned abilities.
It makes sense that each time we repeat a task, we strengthen neural connections, making recall or action more automatic with less friction. Practicing a speech, for instance, helps it flow naturally, freeing up mental space for improvisation.
I'm not sure if thinking itself is a skill like any other. Maybe clear thinking is the real skill, and it's one we all need. It feels different from learning to ride a bike, but perhaps it's just as trainable.
Memory Changes Across the Lifespan
As adults, our memory generally is less elastic than during our childhood era. One of the reasonings behind this is reduced brain plasticity, i.e., the brain's ability to rewire itself.
It's why kids pick up languages effortlessly, and we struggle with new words. Memory elasticity fades with age, but it's not all bad news.
According to The Four Pillars, recalling yesterday's meeting will get trickier as you age, but your knowledge of the world often deepens. This happens because different memory types age differently: episodic memory (events) weakens, but semantic memory (facts) holds strong.
I'm speculating here but this could well be a reason why older adults tend to forget names yet still maintain impressive expertise in their professional domains or hobbies they've practiced for decades.
On the one hand, I'm a bit more forgetful now than during my later childhood days, given that some memories are stored implicitly, as in procedural knowledge that becomes automatic rather than consciously accessible.
Think about how you don't remember learning to tie your shoes anymore, but your hands still know exactly what to do.
On the other hand however, it implies that most of childhood experiences are merely inaccessible to my conscious mind and not necessarily forgotten.
So there's an element of adaptive forgetting that clears mental space for new, potentially more valuable information. It's debatable whether this selective memory is a feature or a bug of our cognitive systems.
Hidden Influences
Forgetfulness doesn't mean memories vanish.
Some, especially from childhood, shift to implicit memory at play, influencing us without awareness.
Ever wonder why you avoid certain foods or places without any present logical reason behind them? It could trace back to a forgotten past experience that isn't fully processed yet.
And these somewhat hidden memories show that aspects of our past is always with us, even if we can't recall it consciously.
Elastic memory, from my understanding, has more to do with the brain's capacity to stretch, adapt, and reorganize neural networks as needed. The key word is needed.
Brain Adaptability
Despite being surrounded by a thick skull, I don't think the brain is a rigid structure that cannot adapt, especially when we've become intentional about challenging it with novel experiences and learning opportunities.
Being intentional about something and needing to exercise that same thing may seem like opposite approaches.
Experientially, I've noticed that learning something completely new brings a different kind of mental fatigue that routine tasks never do.
Like my brain is compressed into the center of a circle and then stretched out beyond the periphery of this circle
The compression part is where the real fatigue is.
Conclusion
Repetition builds memory and skills by strengthening neural paths.
Thinking sharpens with practice like any trainable muscle.
Aging dims memory elasticity, implicit memories linger and silently shape our emotional responses to everyday situations, and the brain stays adaptable with effort.
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