Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have just affirmed that key connections among neurons get stronger whenever we learn. In their own language... they found that LTP … or long-term potentiation … located in the hippocampus … changes when we learn.
It's quite a breakthrough because it reminds us that when we learn -- we rewire our brain. In other words, LTP is an example of plasticity -- the amazing ability of the brain to change in response to experience.
Your LTP builds up synapses, or the connections between neurons, while its counterpart, long-term depression, or LTD, strips away unused synapses. 
While it's true that learning is complex and differs among people...and that synaptic changes occur in hippocampus-based learning are few and difficult to detect, they also found learning can be stored through LTD as well as LTP. That is good news for those who've chosen lifelong learning.
Research rats learned that if they darted into the dark areas of a two-chambered box, they received a slight foot shock. The animals quickly learned to remain in lit areas.
Researchers observed through biochemical probes new "marked" synapses recently changed through learning, and they eavesdroped on synaptic transmissions in the rats' brains as they learned.
So if learning does induce LTP among synapses in the hippocampus, what could you learn today that could improve your position in life.
I plan to ask my favorite and only son-in-law to teach me the game of Settlers of Catan. He's extremely smart so my challenge will be to learn it well enough to play them next time I come here to relax. You?
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