The wheels in the head. Image Source: Public domain.
A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Montreal has found that although the brains of older adults function at a slower rate than that of children and young adults, they tend to be “wiser”. This generally helps older adults achieve levels of cognitive performance that are similar to younger counterparts:
“The older brain has experience and knows that nothing is gained by jumping the gun. It was already known that aging is not necessarily associated with a significant loss in cognitive function. When it comes to certain tasks, the brains of older adults can achieve very close to the same performance as those of younger ones,” Dr. Oury Monchi and Dr. Ruben Martins from the University of Montreal told the Online International News Network.
The study revealed neurobiological evidence indication that old age does in fact bring wisdom. According to the research, an older brain is more adept at organizing information and allocating resources. Assessment abilities are also shown to have improved with age.
In the study, participants were asked to pair words according to different linguistic rules, including a semantic category (people, place, thing, for example) a section about rhyme, as well as paring words to the beginning of another word.
When participants made a mistake in the process and were forced to plan a new strategy to uncover the correct answer, various parts of the brain were called before this processing could begin. Interestingly, the “young brain” was found to be more “reactive” to negative reinforcement that older brains. “It is as though the older brain is more impervious to criticism and more confident than the young brain,” Dr. Monchi told the newswire.
When the older participants were informed that they had made a mistake, various regions of the brain were only called at the beginning of the next trial, signifying that with age, adults make readjustments only when deemed a “last result”, as opposed to the quick reaction time that many young people make.
