Life Examined
Human intelligence: Behind the brains of babies, children, and the elderly
KCRW’s Jonathan Bastian talks with cognitive scientist and philosopher Alison Gopnik about the minds of babies and children. What makes babies such avid learners, and can parents help shape who they will become?
By Jonathan Bastian • • 51m ListenKCRW’s Jonathan Bastian talks with cognitive scientist and philosopher Alison Gopnik about the minds of babies and children. What makes babies such avid learners, and can parents help shape who they will become? Gopnik explains that the evolutionary long human childhood results in years full of exploration and learning.
On the other end of the spectrum, neuroscientist, musician, and author of “Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives” Daniel Levitin explains what the latest research shows about the mind as we age. While infants are constantly exploring and making sense of the world, by the time we reach our 70s and 80s, we've built up a whole lot of experience — enabling us to be better problem solvers.
In this episode
2 storiesWhy children and babies are the best learners on the planet
As any parent will tell you, babies and young children are constantly exploring and incredibly fast learners. In fact, children are the best learners on the planet — faster than any computer algorithm.
Read the story31 minBrain health: Why you should train your mind like an athlete’s body
Many of us worry that the older we get, the more cognitive decline we’ll experience. As we age, our brains change and lose that youthful plasticity — it can be harder to learn new things, or easily forget names and places.
Read the story21 min
