Summary: Can a hobby like birdwatching actually reshape your brain? According to a new study, the answer is a resounding yes. Researchers compared the brains of expert birders to beginners and found that the experts possessed more structurally “compact” brain regions related to attention and perception.
This physical reorganization was directly linked to their accuracy in bird identification. Most importantly, these structural benefits persisted into old age, suggesting that high-level expertise in a complex hobby can provide a protective “cognitive reserve” as we age.
Key Facts
- Structural Compaction: Expert birders show lower “mean diffusivity” in attention- and perception-related brain areas, meaning their brain tissue is more structurally dense and efficient.
- Accuracy Link: The more compact these brain regions were, the more accurate the experts were at identifying both local and unfamiliar bird species.
- Persistent Benefits: These brain changes don’t disappear with age; older experts maintained their structural advantages over age-matched novices.
- Cross-Domain Memory: Older birders were better than beginners at remembering arbitrary information (like faces) when they could link it to their birding knowledge.
- Complex Skill Learning: The study suggests that hobbies involving perception, attention, and memory in tandem provide a unique type of neuroplasticity that can benefit general cognition.
Source: SfN
Research shows that as individuals learn and acquire a new skill, their brain structure and activity changes. But how do more complex skills involving multiple learning processes influence the brain?
New from Journal of Neuroscience, researchers led by Erik Wing, from Baycrest Hospital, compared the brains of 29 expert birders with 29 age- and sex-matched beginners.
Because birding requires a keen eye, attention, and strong memory, this work may have implications for experts of skills using similar processes.
The researchers found that expert birders had more structurally compact attention- and perception-related brain areas, which was linked to more accurate bird identification. Wing elaborates,
“The measure we used is the diffusion of water molecules in the brain. One way of putting it is that there’s more constraint on where water goes in the brains of experts.”
Some of these more compact brain areas supported identification and memory for less familiar birds that were not local to the area.
These structural changes in attention- and perception-related brain areas persisted in older birders. Speculating on what this might mean, says Wing, “Acquiring skills from birding could be beneficial for cognition as people age.”
The researchers continue to probe this idea by exploring whether older adults draw on the skills acquired from birding during other cognitive tasks.
They’ve discovered that older birders can remember arbitrary faces paired with birds better than beginners. Thus, linking arbitrary items to established knowledge in specific domains may enhance recall of information outside of known domains.
Key Questions Answered:
A: The study focused on people who have mastered a high degree of perception and memory. However, the takeaway is that learning complex, multi-layered skills is what drives the brain to reorganize itself. Starting the journey of becoming an expert is where the benefits begin.
A: Think of it like a well-organized filing cabinet versus a messy one. In experts, the brain tissue is more “tightly packed,” which allows for faster and more accurate processing of information with less neural “noise.”
A: While the study doesn’t claim to “prevent” disease, it shows that complex hobbies build “cognitive reserve.” This means that even as the brain ages, it has a stronger, more efficient structure to rely on, which can help maintain sharp thinking for longer.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- Journal paper reviewed in full.
- Additional context added by our staff.
About this cognition and aging research news
Author: SfN Media
Source: SfN
Contact: SfN Media – SfN
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Closed access.
“The Tuned Cortex: Convergent Expertise-Related Structural and Functional Remodeling Across the Adult Lifespan” by Erik A. Wing, Jordan A. Chad, Geneva Mariotti, Jennifer D. Ryan and Asaf Gilboa. Journal of Neuroscience
DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1307-25.2026
Abstract
The Tuned Cortex: Convergent Expertise-Related Structural and Functional Remodeling Across the Adult Lifespan
Neuroplasticity is a defining property of the brain. Structural and functional brain changes arise soon after learning and are particularly evident following years of practice that underpin expert performance.
Much existing evidence comes from work on individual measures of learning rather than interrelated processes. However, the relationship between structural remodeling, functional tuning and processing domain-specific stimuli is central to how the brain and behavior adapt with experience.
Here, we provide a multimodal view of cortical reorganization in a domain for which high-level perception, attention, and memory are shaped through extensive practice: bird identification expertise.
In both skilled bird ID experts (n = 29; ages 24-75, 15 female) and matched novices (n = 29; ages 22-79, 14 female) cortical structure was assessed with diffusion-weighted MRI.
Functional and behavioral measures were obtained during a delayed matching task requiring identification of local and nonlocal species. Compared to novices, experts showed lower mean diffusivity in frontoparietal (SFG, IPS) and posterior cortical (AG, precuneus, LOC, fusiform) areas, along with a trend for more gradual increases in age-related MD.
This suggests a regionally-specific increase in structural complexity and potential attenuation of age-related decline. Across these regions, lower MD predicted higher identification accuracy in experts.
Task-related BOLD timecourses revealed that these same frontoparietal regions were selectively engaged when experts judged less-familiar nonlocal (vs. local) birds, and the magnitude of this nonlocal > local response tracked performance.
Together, these results suggest convergent structural remodeling and functional tuning in service of expert performance across the lifespan.
