Scientists have known for years that the learning process keeps nerve cells in the brain of adult rats alive. What they didn’t know was that this theory also applied to young rats. The latest study found that the learning process increased the number of nerve cells in young rats to two to four times that of adult rats. After the young rats learned to associate sound with motor responses, the scientists looked at hippocampal tissue in their brains, which is closely associated with learning behavior, and found that the new neurons that had been stained and labeled a few weeks earlier were still active. In contrast, the newborn neurons in the brains of rats that did not undergo learning had decayed. ”Nearly half of the new neurons in brains that were not learning died after three weeks,” noted Tracey Shors of the Rutgers University School of Psychology, a co-author of the study. Yet many new neurons survived in those brains that were engaged in learning activities, although the exact number of survivors is difficult to calculate.” Shors also notes that the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience, is important because it suggests that the proliferation of neuronal cells in the brains of young animals is likely to help them face the dangers and challenges of the outside world, as well as the opportunities of adulthood, after leaving the protection of their mothers. The reason is that the proliferation of neuronal cells in the brains of young animals is likely to help them face the dangers and challenges of the outside world and the opportunities of adulthood after leaving the protection of their mothers. ”Learning doesn’t make more neurons,” Shors explains, “but rather the process of learning keeps the neurons that have been newly born alive and safe from decay.” Is this true for humans as well? Since the process of neuronal cell neogenesis in the brain is similar at the cellular level in all animals, including humans, Shors believes that learning to the best of one’s ability is important for adolescent children. ”The hardest part, especially for me as an educator, is how to motivate students to learn to their maximum potential. You don’t want them to learn something too easy nor do you want it to be so difficult that they lose confidence and give up learning.” So what does this mean for 12-year-old adolescents? Shors notes that although scientists can’t yet directly measure the neurons in each person’s brain, the study shows us, at the cellular level, the changes that occur in the brain during adolescence and reveals to us the brain’s amazing capacity for self-awareness, for forming new neural connections, during this important transition phase of our lives. ”Children in adolescence are usually in a learning environment like a schoolyard all day long, and they are always trying to understand themselves and envision what they will become in the future.” Shors explains, “And the brain has to be capable enough to deal with all of that.”