'You'll understand when you're older' is a phrase children often hear from adults. A new study by researchers at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, reveals the age at which we are the wisest. But beware, if our cognitive capacities are indeed at their maximum at this age, this does not mean a great and endless descent afterwards.
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How the study was carried out
The research programme went to great lengths to certify these results. 3300 people analyzed to provide a study is not an easy task. Aged between 16 and 44, the respondents were questioned on numerous points with analysis of the response times and their language constructions.
And the results are clear: we are at the peak of our intelligence and cognitive abilities at the age of 24. Of course, this is not the case for every individual and, we do not lose intelligence at 25. In fact, according to other results of the study, if our cognitive abilities do indeed become slower with age, we also learn to develop new skills to compensate for the lack of speed.
What happens after 24
According to Joseph J. Thompson, director of the study:
An exploratory analysis of age-related differences suggests that older participants compensated for a loss of response speed by using game mechanisms that reduce cognitive load. Less fast but more cunning. How else would chess players do it?
These results are certainly convincing, but they only provide an answer about our neurological cognitive capacities. Cognition is the set of mental processes at work in the brain's functions. Imagine the brain is a large machine, well or badly oiled. But there is more to it than that. We could add sociological variables, but what really defines intelligence?
That said, there are different ways of training our brain to maintain itself. Reading, writing, doing crosswords and listening to music, for example.
This article was translated from Gentside FR.
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Sources used:
-Santé Magazine: l’intelligence atteint son pic à 24 ans
-Plos One: Over the Hill at 24: Persistent Age-Related Cognitive-Motor Decline in Reaction Times in an Ecologically Valid Video Game Task Begins in Early Adulthood
