When and where did the last Congress under SPASAI take place?

14-18 April 2008 in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

Do older adults have a lower capacity for learning as they age?

Yes and no. While structural changes do occur in brain over time resulting in lower cognitive power (e.g. learning, remembering and solving problems), new research has unfolded other changes that improve learning.

Some changes that lower our learning capacity as we age:

• parts of our brains shrink.

• neurons’ communication becomes less effective.

• blood flow in our brains slows.

Things that improve our learning as we age:

• The more we learn, the better our brain is able to learn.

• We use more of our brain when we perform certain tasks.

• We get better at impulse control, which improves our thinking and decision-making.

• As we gain more experience, we get better is some areas.

You can read more on these links:

• https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2020/02/24/age-learning/

• https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2022.1009262/full

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4552811/

• https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170828-the-amazing-fertility-of-the-older-mind

• https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/how-aging-affects-focus