There is a tendency as we age to resist change, owing to a variety of factors. Depletion of dopamine and deterioration of dopamine receptors in the brain lead to a lack of novelty seeking—we’re chemically less motivated to look for new experiences or to learn new things. Bodily and cognitive limitations make learning and doing new things more difficult. And memory! Our memories and perceptions are based on millions of observations of things being a certain way; our prediction circuits are basing their calculations on what happened over and over again in the past. The intact memory system
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