Research on neuroplasticity indicates the human brain is NEVER too old to learn.
However, what does tend to happen over time is certain brain patterns become heavily reinforced while others wither away from neglect. Learning later in life has to overcome the patterns heavily reinforced by experience.
Consider, for example, if you decided today you wanted to tie your shoes in a different way than you've been doing. You've tied your shoes tens of thousands of times and the brain patterns for shoe tying are deeply reinforced. Your new shoe-tying technique, in contrast, is something you've only tried a few times and has minimal reinforcement. Naturally, the old way of tying your shoes is a much easier brain pattern to access and execute.
Younger people have less trouble learning new things because A) They don't have a lifetime of heavily reinforced brain patterns and B) They have a lot of excess neural potential because reinforcement hasn't caused potential patterns to wither from neglect.
Excellent answer. I'm having a comical confirmation of that just now. After driving manual cars for 60 years we just bought our first automatic. After three months I still find myself feeling for the clutch or the gears from time to time. :(
Age itself won't stop us learning. The ageing process can slow down our ability.
I'd have backed my older self to compete with my younger self until I reached 76. For the past few years I've started to slow down (mentally) and my recall isn't nearly as fast as it used to be. Even so, working through that, I'd still back myself to keep up with young Didge academically.
If I was betting on learning ability I'd make old age slightly the favourite over youth. Why? Because old people have a lifetime of experience to which they can relate new subjects. Young people have energy and quick minds. It might be an interesting competition.
Leslie Caron (Gigi) at age 70 asked her agent when she would be too old to start a new career. "When you're dead," he said. So she bought an inn called Auberge La Lucarne aux Chouettes (The Owl's Nest) and became one of France's most respected restaurateurs.
There is evidence that certain skills (language is among these) that have a "critical learning period". This essentially means that if the brain isn't exposed to the required stimuli before this critical period expires, the brain is unable to learn them in a complete way.
This is one area where it's obvious that research opportunities are very limited, due to the fact that it would be inhumane to deliberately deprive humans of stimuli in the name of science. It is interesting, though.
I can support that form personal experience. I didn't learn to swim till I was in my 40s and only then because I wanted to compete in triathlon. I managed to get the distance but I was never any good and always came out of the water in the rear 25% of the group. For me the race didn't really start till I got on dry land. Had I learned as a child I think I'd have been much better.
It's good that you learned, though! And that you were able to do it! I think that instilling a love of learning is the most important thing that parents and early childhood educators can teach children. Once that's accomplished, the potential is almost limitless.
B.H.Wilson 