What is happening in my brain when I am learning something new?

Like other parts of your body, your brain is made up of a collection of cells. One of those types of cells – called neurons – is critical for learning and for memory. 

Neurons talk to one another by passing chemicals and electricity to one another, and by doing so, they become linked together. As you learn information, you cause different neurons to link together, and your learning can also change how strongly those neurons are linked.

You might imagine learning like building a set of roads to help you reach different thought-destinations. Sometimes, your learning requires you to build entirely new roads. Other times, your learning takes advantage of roads that you built previously. In those cases, learning is more like paving the road. Learning makes it faster and easier to travel to your thought-destination.

When you are bringing well-learned information to mind, like how to hold a pencil or how to ride a bike (“nondeclarative memory” as described in our answer to What is Memory?), you are taking advantage of those roads that you’ve built.  You’re able to hop on your bike and ride it down the road because of all the work you put into building the brain connections needed for you to perform that skill. (While people often talk about “muscle memory” when describing these types of skills, the memory is in the brain cells, not the muscles!)