<story><title>Age differences in learning from an insufficient representation of uncertainty</title><url>http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11609</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dmichulke</author><text>TLDR; If you think you know everything already (or you don&amp;#x27;t need to learn something) then you learn less well.&lt;p&gt;Older people are more often fulfilling the above premises, and thereby the above conclusion.&lt;p&gt;This means: Worse learning performance is not a consequence of age per se.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>fdej</author><text>This is not an accurate summary of what the study actually found. The article proposes a high-level explanation for &lt;i&gt;how&lt;/i&gt; one aspect of learning changes with age.&lt;p&gt;The actual cause of this high-level change could be lower-level age-induced differences in neurotransmitter levels or in neuronal function and connectivity. As the article&amp;#x27;s summary points out, the actual biological basis needs to be investigated in further research.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s also important to note that this study found a plausible explanation for changes in learning performance &lt;i&gt;under specific circumstances&lt;/i&gt;. This is a very important qualification.&lt;p&gt;Learning in general is believed to involve many different interrelated mechanisms. It&amp;#x27;s well established that many different cognitive abilities (perhaps most importantly working memory) diminish with age, and some of this degradation is likely related to natural cerebral shrinkage (a healthy 75-year-old has a 15% smaller brain than a 25-year-old).</text></comment>
<story><title>Age differences in learning from an insufficient representation of uncertainty</title><url>http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms11609</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dmichulke</author><text>TLDR; If you think you know everything already (or you don&amp;#x27;t need to learn something) then you learn less well.&lt;p&gt;Older people are more often fulfilling the above premises, and thereby the above conclusion.&lt;p&gt;This means: Worse learning performance is not a consequence of age per se.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>k__</author><text>lol, is this why impostor syndrome exists?&lt;p&gt;1. I think I know nothing.&lt;p&gt;2. I try to learn hard to get better.&lt;p&gt;3. goto 1.</text></comment>