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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Clint_L" data-source="post: 9541665" data-attributes="member: 7035894">All of us experience cognitive decline to some degree as we age, particularly in processing speed and recall. Every brain is different, and there are outliers, so hopefully that includes all of us (outliers in a positive direction, of course).An interesting phenomenon of aging and learning is that we get more of a dopamine reward from learning new things for ourselves (as opposed to social learning, or learning for others) when we are younger as compared to when we age. The reasons for this are not well understood, but the practical effect is that it inhibits our desire to learn stuff for our personal use as we age, with the effect that we don't learn as well. Learning new games definitely falls into this category, and I have observed this phenomenon in myself.When I was in my teens and twenties, I loved learning new game systems just for the sake of learning them, even if I was unlikely to play them. I loved trying out new video games, board games, RPGs, whatever.Now that I am in my 50s, I can hardly be arsed to pick up a new video game unless it is immediately familiar. Learning a new board game or RPG feels like a bit of a chore. I am much more biased towards games that I already know, or that are similar to games I already know, as compared to my younger years when novelty was in itself an attraction. As I am aware of this phenomenon and know it is good for aging brains to learn new stuff, I have to make it a point to seek out and persevere with new learning experiences when it comes to gaming. But now, it can feel like a chore.Incidentally, this is probably connected to the well-established bias that older folks have against new values and technologies: novelty tends to go from being a feature to a flaw as we age, and this is partially due to biological mechanisms. It's worth reminding ourselves of that.TLDR: as we age, learning becomes both harder and less biologically rewarding.</blockquote>

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