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Comment by magicalhippo | Hacker News Reader

Which to me shouldn't be that surprising given that we know neurons seek to connect with other neurons based on activation patterns, and that the brain stays plastic into old age.

I've seen similar with movement. Once they break a hip or something which severely reduces their physical activity level, cognitive abilities usually go downhill fast. Part of that is probably cardio-related, but I've long thought it was related to lack of stimulus.

Just doing the dishes or feeling the wind creates a ton of sensations, and may trigger memories, that sitting in a chair watching daytime TV just won't.

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I wonder if some of that could be solved via VR or even just video games. Not as good as the real thing but should be more mentally stimulating than passively watching.

There's a ton of research into this idea, have a search on PubMed.

Unfortunately it suffers from at least two problems.

First, generalisable effects from specific interventions often fail to replicate, so for example subjects tend to get better at a specific task but it doesn't necessarily carry over to real-world contexts. There are a few promising potential directions, although even those results are modest and uncertain.

Second, people with even mild/early signs of dementia are extremely unlikely to continue with an intervention. Even if they do they often modify it, e.g. unplugging a smart device to save energy, or taping over buttons to prevent accidentally pressing them.

I would hunt out references but I'm on mobile, they shouldn't be hard to find.

Seems like this is saying something different.

If it was purely lack of hearing leads to atrophy and neural decay, then why are deaf not all just in steady decline and dying off?

There must be more to it, why can't people that loose hearing later, learn sign language, and thus stay active, just like the deaf.

> why can't people that loose hearing later, learn sign language, and thus stay active, just like the deaf.

Did their friends and family learn sign language as well? People who are deaf young tend to get a social circle who can communicate with deaf people, while old people are unlikely to rebuild all of that.

Very few adults learn a new language to a high level. It can be done, but most get to the level of ordering a beer and call it good if they get alcohol.

If you don't need to use the language except for a one week tour (where you are still mostly with people who speak your language) this is good enough. However if you are suddenly without ability to communicate you probably can't suddenly learn fast enough to combat decline.

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