Why do we never lose certain skills we have learned, even if we haven’t practiced them for a long time. like for example riding a bicycle, and we lose some, like a new language we learned 10 years ago but can’t remember anything about it now?

Question

Why do we never lose certain skills we have learned, even if we haven’t practiced them for a long time. like for example riding a bicycle, and we lose some, like a new language we learned 10 years ago but can’t remember anything about it now?

In: 5857

Answer 1

As a former neurobiologist to keep it simple: those information is stored within different parts of the brain.

Movement like riding a bike is stored in the very “basic” cerebellum, language you learn until you a 4-6 within a primary language area (where it is well protected)… and every language you learn after that time is stored within a general second language area, where it is doomed to be forgotten, when it is not used regularly.