study
At what age does our thinking really slow down?
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The older we get, the slower everything goes… including thinking. But, is this really the truth? And if so, when does our brain start to work more slowly? A new study has answers – and some of them are surprising.
If older people take a little longer at the supermarket checkout, we like to blame it on the years they already have under their belt. After all, the brain works much slower as we get older – right? It’s not quite that simple, as a study by the Psychological Institute at Heidelberg University has now found out. According to her According to a study, there is another reason why older people sometimes take more time.
Intelligence + Cognitive Abilities: Study of Mental Speed in Old Age
For the study, the research team led by Mischa von Krause analyzed around 1.2 million data sets from people between the ages of ten and 80. Participants were asked to assign images and words to specific categories on a screen.
In fact, it took older people longer to do this than younger people. But according to the scientists’ analysis, this is not necessarily due to declining cognitive abilities, but rather because the older people simply take more time to make decisions. They obviously weigh things up more carefully than younger people.
Thinking slows down with age – but later than previously thought
According to the research team, this hesitancy increases as early as age 20. And – contrary to what was previously thought – mental abilities and intelligence continue to increase even up to the age of 30. They then remain roughly the same for most of our adult lives and only decrease from around the age of 60.
The experts explain: “For large parts of the human lifespan and typical professional careers, our results question the widespread idea of an age-related slowing of mental speed.” Their analysis suggests that the decline begins much later in life than previously thought.
However, these research results should be viewed with caution because the team did not examine the brain itself, but rather based their conclusions on a mathematical model and the participants’ data sets. There were no neurological studies that could have substantiated the thesis.
Sources used: nature.com, geo.de, nationalgeographic.de, spiegel.de