These Mental Abilities Could Actually Improve With Age

How cognitive abilities change with age and what factors can help maintain a sharp mind.

Shutterstock

Although cognitive decline is inevitable in aging, emerging research suggests that the senior years may not be all doom and gloom for our brain power.

From vocabulary that peaks in our 60s and 70s to improved abilities to ignore distractions, the latest findings reveal how the passing decades can sharpen—not dull—our mental prowess.

Which Mental Skills Peak and Which Wane

Our mental abilities don’t uniformly decline as we age. Although fluid intelligence—the ability to think quickly and recall information—peaks around 20 and gradually decreases, one recent study suggests a more nuanced picture.

The study, published in Psychological Science, looked at data from more than 48,500 people and found that the time when cognitive skills peak varied. Although some abilities decline after high school, others plateau in early adulthood, declining around 30. Surprisingly, certain skills such as vocabulary accumulation peak in the late 60s or early 70s.

Furthermore, a more recent study published in Nature Human Behaviour examined three crucial cognitive abilities: alerting (vigilance for incoming information), orienting (shifting attention), and executive inhibition (ignoring distractions).

Alerting declined with age, but orienting and inhibition improved over time, and they underlie critical functions such as memory and decision-making.

Attention Deficits Versus Knowledge Gains

Cognitive abilities can be divided into two types: fluid reasoning and crystallized knowledge.

Fluid reasoning involves “cognitive control”—the ability to actively pay attention, learn new information, process it quickly, and remember what was learned, according to Christopher Christodoulou, a clinical and research neuropsychologist at the Stony Brook Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease. These abilities tend to decline with age, though not at the same rate for everyone.

On the other hand, crystallized knowledge refers to skills and information that people have learned and practiced over time.

“These well-established habits—these things can remain strong,” Mr. Christodoulou told The Epoch Times, citing examples such as vocabulary and semantic knowledge. Older adults may struggle to recall specific details or words as easily, but they often still recognize and possess that underlying knowledge, he said.

Still, age remains the most significant risk factor for diseases affecting brain structure and function, especially Alzheimer’s. Other common conditions in older adults, such as diabetes and heart disease, also increase the risk of dementia.

The Power of Cognitive Games

Some evidence suggests that cognitive decline can be delayed or even reversed through mental training and exercises.

A 2021 study evaluated the effectiveness of cognitive mobile games (CMG) designed to train and challenge the brain. Researchers analyzed game scores and processing speed over 100 CMG sessions in 12,000 participants at least 60 years old.

Players improved their scores and processing speed throughout the 100 sessions, regardless of age. This suggests that older and very old adults can achieve improved cognitive performance through the real-life use of CMG. These games can include mobile app versions of popular games such as chess, Scrabble, or Sudoku.

Mental exercises are among the ways to maintain or even improve our cognitive abilities over the years, but “they’re obviously not the only thing,” Mr. Christodoulou said. Lifestyle factors such as physical exercise (especially aerobic), social interactions, and diet can also significantly contribute to keeping the mind sharp as we age, he said.