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MIT, MGH Research Says Not All Cognitive Abilities Decline As You Age
ResumeThey're called "senior moments" by many — you lose your keys, forget the name of someone you've met before, walk into a room and you don't remember why.
The thinking goes, "senior moments" happen more frequently as we age, and our cognitive thinking, overall, declines.
Not necessarily so, says new research out of MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital.
In fact, though some skills — like pairing numbers and symbols — peak in the late teens, other skills — like reading people's emotions — peak in midlife and stick around for decades.
Guests
Carey Goldberg, co-host of WBUR's CommonHealth blog. She tweets at @commonhealth.
Laura Germine, psychiatric researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital and co-author of the study. She co-runs the websites, testmybrain.org and gameswithwords.org. She tweets @braintests.
More
- "Understanding how and when cognitive change occurs over the life span is a prerequisite for understanding normal and abnormal development and aging."
The Boston Globe: Older And Wiser? Some Brain Functions Improve As We Age
- "The ability to recall names and faces with lightning speed may start to fade in one’s 20s, but our capability to perform other functions, such as learning new words, doesn’t peak until decades later, according to a new study by Boston scientists."
Time: Not Just Child’s Play: Video Games Could Slow Mental Decline
- "The quick-thinking skills required in video games may be more helpful than crossword puzzles in slowing or even reversing declines in brain function that come with aging."
This segment aired on March 9, 2015.