It is a common misconception that children excel at learning new skills compared to adults. In reality, young adults appear to acquire skills more rapidly than children, but they also tend to forget them faster. This phenomenon may relate to the fact that children benefit from better sleep, according to a recent study from the University of Copenhagen.
Many believe children pick up new motor skills more quickly than adults, whether it’s navigating slopes, skateparks, learning languages, performing cartwheels, or mastering dance moves from social media.
“There is an assumption in popular science and various textbooks that children aged around eight to just before puberty are superior at learning new skills compared to adults. This period is often referred to as a ‘golden age for motor skills learning’. However, there is no solid physiological evidence to support this so-called golden age,” states Jesper Lundbye-Jensen, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports and head of the Movement & Neuroscience section.
The assumption regarding a peak in motor learning among pre-pubescent children led researchers to explore how differences in age impact motor skill learning through the lens of the central nervous system. Their findings have now been documented in Developmental Science.
In their study, researchers assessed the motor learning capabilities of 132 individuals across four different age groups: 8-10 years, 12-14 years, 16-18 years, and 20-30 years. Participants practiced moving a cursor efficiently on a computer screen using swift finger movements.
Older participants learn more quickly
The participants’ performance was evaluated right after task introduction (baseline), during the training session, and again 24 hours later.
During the training, both the 16-18-year-olds and the 20-30-year-olds demonstrated significantly greater improvements than the 8-10-year-olds.
“Thus, it seems that both teenagers and young adults are better at swiftly acquiring new skills compared to children, who exhibited smaller and slower enhancements. This is particularly true for short-term learning concerning the motor skills evaluated in this study,” explains Mikkel Malling Beck, the lead author of the research and a former PhD candidate at the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, now a researcher at the Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance at Hvidovre Hospital.
Though the researchers can’t definitively determine why adults have a faster learning curve, they propose a few possibilities.
“The outcomes show that older participants display greater skill acquisition during the initial training phases. This suggests they derive more benefits from the task introduction. We suspect that cognitive development and an enhanced capacity to process information contribute — implying adults have more experience in understanding and applying instructions effectively,” says Jesper Lundbye-Jensen, adding:
“Furthermore, the fully developed nervous systems of adults may provide better structural conditions for learning. Essentially, after years of education, adults might be more adept learners, making them more efficient at picking up new information.”
Children gain more from sleep
The dynamics change concerning the retention of skills:
“When we analyze what occurs from the conclusion of training until the participants return the following day, the trend shifts. The younger participants actually show improvement overnight, whereas adults experience a decline in their performance. This indicates that younger individuals are more effective at consolidating and reinforcing their memory following practice,” remarks Mikkel Malling Beck.
The researchers suggest that this points to sleep playing a more beneficial role in children’s learning and memory. However, other elements could influence this as well. For instance, older children and adults typically get less sleep and have various “competing” activities throughout the day. Memory-consolidation processes within the nervous system persist for hours after training ends.
“Even after a math class ends, the brain continues to process what was taught, thus strengthening memory. It is known that sleep aids in this consolidation. However, participating in other activities in the hours post-training — especially those related to learning — can disrupt memory processes and the consolidation of newly acquired information,” explains Jesper Lundbye-Jensen.
Potential implications for professionals
While learning outcomes do not vary greatly among different age groups, the study indicates significant differences in the learning process itself, dictated by the maturity of an individual’s central nervous system.
The findings could be instrumental in teaching and training contexts that focus on skill and movement, such as in sports and music. Jesper Lundbye-Jensen emphasizes that the implications are relevant in other fields as well:
“For those seeking to enhance their skills, it’s essential to structure training effectively so that each individual maximizes their learning potential. This principle applies to individuals in rehabilitation as well. We hope this new insight into age-related differences and post-training processes will guide physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and other professionals in designing training programs.”
ABOUT THE STUDY
- The primary study involved 132 participants, including children, teens, and adults, divided into four age categories (8-10 years, 12-14 years, 16-18 years, and 20-30 years).
- The motor task that participants practiced was specifically crafted for the study to ensure it was new to all individuals involved.
- Baseline performance was recorded right after the task introduction, followed by 30 minutes of training, a brief break, and another skills assessment. After 24 hours, participants returned to the lab for a final evaluation.
- To account for the initially superior performance and greater improvements among adults versus younger children, the researchers conducted control experiments that made the task more challenging for adults to align with the skill level of 8-10-year-olds. Even with these adjustments, adults still showed more enhancement during training, while children’s memory retention benefited more from the time following training, particularly from sleep.
- The study exclusively focused on motor skill learning and, therefore, cannot extend conclusions to other forms of learning.
- This research represents a short-term study and does not assess whether similar age-related trends would be consistent in long-term effects.
- The scientific article detailing this study has been published in Developmental Science. The researchers involved include Mikkel Malling Beck, Frederikke Toft Kristensen, Gitte Abrahamsen, Meaghan Elizabeth Spedden, and Jesper Lundbye-Jensen from the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, alongside Mark Schram Christensen from the Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen.
