Our brains learn by interacting 

While growing up in Sacramento, California, Ben Anderson did all the typical things young boys do. He walked to school, played basketball, and rode his bike around the neighborhood. But what makes Ben so remarkable is that he did all this without his eyes.

At just three years old, Ben lost his sight to a rare form of cancer. Shortly after that, he began experimenting with new ways of navigating the world. He developed a strategy of clicking his tongue and listening carefully to the sounds reflecting off the surfaces around him. Essentially, he learned to see using echolocation, just like a bat.

This acoustic adaptation shows just how flexible the human brain can be. With a little effort, and lots of trial and error, we can learn to perceive reality in brand-new ways.

The human brain isn’t static. In fact, it’s just the opposite, and can become sharpened and refined over time, depending on how we use it. In the same way a professional athlete can train her muscles to move with precision, we can train our minds to be more sensitive, flexible, and creative by engaging with our environment. And the more we interact with the world, the more we learn.

A classic study shows just how important interacting with the world is to brain health. To begin, scientists divided rats into two groups. One group was given a dynamic environment full of objects, toys, and other stimuli, while the other group was kept in dull cages where nothing ever changed. After a month, the groups showed clear differences in brain structure. The group that had more to play with had better-developed brains, with more cells and denser neural connections.

Just like those rats, if we continually expose ourselves to new stimuli, our brains will get stronger. We can even learn to incorporate new senses, as was shown in a study from the University of Osnabrück. Subjects were given special belts that vibrated toward magnetic north, mimicking the magnetic sensing some animals have. After wearing the belts for a few weeks, participants had better spatial perception and were more confident in their navigation skills.

Fortunately, you don’t need fancy equipment to stimulate your brain. Just exposing yourself to novel experiences, art, and people throughout your life will do the trick.