Young vs Old: Who Are Better Learners?
Written by Daphnnie Robyn Flores
Most of us have heard the saying, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Is there any merit to this saying, or is it merely an old wives’ tale? Research by Gopnik et al. (2015) suggests that it holds some merit. A child’s cognitive ability and knowledge could make them more successful learners than older individuals because they are more likely to think abstractly and be less biased by previous knowledge (Gopnik et al., 2015). For example, research has shown that younger infants can learn certain sound distinctions that are not from their native language, whereas older children and adults struggle with this (Werker et al., 2012; Kuhl, 2004; Gopnik et al., 2015).
In three past studies by Gopnik and colleagues, children and adult participants heard a series of scenarios and selected one of two reasoning options (A or B) that best explained each scenario (Gopnik et al., 2015). Option A was presented in such a way that it appeared to be the less likely explanation for the scenario compared to option B to adult participants. However, in the scenario, there was more evidence to support option A. In all three studies, younger participants selected option A more than adults or older participants, who tended to still select option B despite the evidence showing option A was the more likely outcome. For example, when the researcher placed two blocks of a similar shape on the music machine, it would play music; however, the music machine would not play if the blocks were different from one another. Participants then had to choose between a new set of blocks to turn on the machine. Results showed that toddlers succeeded with the task, while three-year-old participants performed at chance levels (Gopnik et al., 2015). Research is still unclear on why younger individuals may be better abstract thinkers in certain situations, or why this advantage disappears as they age. Gopnik and colleagues (2015) propose two possible explanations: the use of Bayes’ Rule when problem solving and changes to our brain as we age.
Gopnik and colleagues (2015) say that having too much knowledge can be “dangerous.” Returning to the quote from earlier, the “old dog” cannot be taught new tricks because it is hard to learn something new once it has prior knowledge of older tricks. In this sense, too much knowledge can be “dangerous” because it can hinder interpretation of new information. A Bayesian learner uses Bayes’ rule, a method that involves considering probabilities with various outcomes given certain conditions (Westbury, 2010). In using Bayes’ rule, a person combines two probabilities for each outcome: (1) how likely the outcome is to begin with prior to seeing the data and (2) how likely the outcome is the cause of the new data (Gopnik et al., 2015). If someone thinks that option A is more probable than option B, it would require stronger evidence to have them choose option B. If, however, both options are equally likely, it would take weaker evidence to have them choose option B.
Another potential explanation for why younger individuals may be better at abstract reasoning is that as we age our brains change; our brains also relinquish some neural flexibility to improve efficiency (Gopnik et al., 2015). There is more neural flexibility and plasticity among younger individuals, which declines and becomes less flexible as we age. As time progresses the frontal areas of the brain (which are associated with attention, planning, and executive control) apply more control over other brain areas. This frontal control focuses attention, improves planning, and executive control. Disrupting this frontal control can ultimately lead to enhanced cognitive performance on some tasks. An example of this is seen in the study by Chrysikou et al. (2013). The researchers utilized inhibitory transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to examine whether a lowered regulation of the prefrontal cortex would benefit the performance in tasks that have to do with flexible thinking. Results showed that tDCS on the left side of the prefrontal cortex, as compared to that of the right-side, lead to enhanced performance (number and speed) in coming up with uncommon uses of normal daily-encountered objects (Chrysikou et al., 2013).
Learning is a beautiful thing. Although we continue to learn as we age, maybe we can learn to think more abstractly and open-mindedly from studying children. After all, as the Philippine National Hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, once said in the English version of his original poem entitled A La Juventud Filipina (To the Filipino Youth), the youth are the “fair hope of [his] fatherland” (WritingsOfRizal, n.d.).
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References
A la Juventud Filipina (English). (n.d.). Writings Of Rizal. Retrieved May 24, 2021, from
http://writingsofrizal.weebly.com/a-la-juventud-filipina-english.html
Chrysikou, E. G., Hamilton, R. H., Coslett, H. B., Datta, A., Bikson, M., & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2013). Noninvasive
transcranial direct current stimulation over the left prefrontal cortex facilitates cognitive flexibility in tool use.
Cognitive Neuroscience, 4(2), 81-89. https://doi.org/10.1080/17588928.2013.768221
Gopnik, A., Griffiths, T. L., & Lucas, C. G. (2015). When younger learners can be better (or at least more open-minded)
than older ones. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(2), 87-92.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721414556653
Kuhl, P. K. (2004). Early language acquisition: Cracking the speech code. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 5(11), 831-843.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1533
Werker, J. F., Yeung, H. H., & Yoshida, K. A. (2012). How do infants become experts at native-speech perception?
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21(4), 221-226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412449459
Westbury, C. F. (2010). Bayes’ Rule for clinicians: An introduction. Frontiers in Psychology.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00192
Disclaimer
The blog posts are for informational and educational purposes only. The posts should not be considered as any type of advice (medical, mental health, legal, and/or religious advice). All blog posts have been researched, written, and edited by the undergraduate students and alumni of the Lifespan Cognition Lab. As a teaching and research-based lab, we encourage all lab members to help make knowledge more accessible to all communities through these posts.
