How Experience Shapes Your Brain

When you’re learning how to perfectly bend your knees for a plié, your brain reacts by strengthening or weakening the connections between neurons. The brain’s ability to change — its plasticity — is what helps you learn so you can nail the plié next time. That capacity to change is vital — a brain damaged by injury or disease may be able to reroute connections or grow new neurons to regain some lost abilities. So, with each new dance move you learn, your experience shapes your brain to become uniquely yours.

Click on the targets in the image to learn more about how experience shapes your brain.

About the Author

Hannah Zuckerman

Hannah is the former Production and Editorial Associate for BrainFacts.org. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 2014 with a degree in history. She previously worked at Princeton University Press and the art magazine Sculpture.