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Why is it so hard to learn a new language?

The brain lives in a state of constant flux. It repeatedly adjusts itself to enhance our mental performance while juggling millions of incoming signals. While that adaptability keeps us cogent, however, scientists say it's precisely what makes it so difficult for adults to learn new languages.

Brain cell activity can be divided into two categories — plasticity and stability. Plasticity refers to the brain's ability to change. As we gain new information, we form new connections between neurons. Stability is the opposite; it allows the brain to hold on to things we've already learned, to make those connections stick.

Younger children have a high level of "neural plasticity." Forming new neural connections is useful for kids because they need to learn tons of new information and discern what's important enough to hold on to. But as we get older, the brain's ability to make new connections naturally decreases.

"The brain starts to prioritize stability," explained Matt Leonard, assistant professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of California at San Francisco. "We basically want to hang on to the important stuff that we've spent the last decade or more learning."

When learning a new language, humans rely on plasticity, according to new research. That's why kids can often pick up multiple languages with little effort, while adults tend to struggle to get a few Duolingo lessons down.

To understand how the brain might pick up a foreign lexicon, UCSF neuroscientists studied the brain activity of 10 English-speaking epileptic patients while the subjects(those patients) learned Mandarin. These volunteers already had electrodes in their brain due to their condition and consented to extend the devices' data to the project, offering a unique opportunity for researchers to directly study the human brain as it learns.

Upon completing analysis of the subjects' brain data, Leonard and fellow researchers found that "knobs" of neurons — within the region of the brain known as the speech cortex — were active during the learning process. That means some neurons didn't participate.

"There are these different sorts of groups of neurons, some of which seem to be really willing to change with learning and others that are more resistant," Leonard said.

"The best way to learn a new language, whether you're a kid or an adult, is to be immersed in it," Leonard said, "to be around native speakers as much as possible."

He also stresses that during any learning process, there will be ups and downs. In fact, brain activity data of the study subjects indicated large variations in learning success.

"There might just be time periods where the stability neurons just kind of went out and they might just say, 'Look, we need to slow this down and not change things too much right now,'" Leonard explained.

"If you're in the process of learning," Leonard said, "and you start to feel like, 'I'm like not getting this, I'm starting to lose what I'm supposed to be paying attention to,' and your motivation goes down, you're actually not going to do as well."

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