It is often assumed that the brain function reduces in the middle years. Many middle-aged persons tend to complain about their declining brain function. The psychometric decline illusion is based on the cognitive aspects middle-aged adults feel declining, such as quickly forgetting people’s names. Some scientific studies and anecdotal evidence have overstated the human brain’s deficiencies, which is not necessarily true.
The Seattle Longitudinal Study has for the past 50 years tracked the cognitive development of thousands of adults, which has given researchers a wealth of information on brain development. The results show that some mental aspects, such as inductive reasoning, vocabulary, verbal memory, and tacit knowledge, increase with age. Two out of the six cognitive tests were the only ones that declined in middle-aged adults (Philips, 2011). Young adults performed better on perceptual speed and memorization skills compared to the middle-aged adults proving a decline. According to Schaie & Willis (2010), who summarized findings from the Seattle study, most psychometric abilities decline from 60 years while almost all cognitive abilities decrease by 74 years of age. However, other experts argue that primary brain function starts to decline in middle adulthood as early as 45 years.
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The Midlife in the United States Studies (MIDUS), a longitudinal study that was started in 1994, argues that middle life is where cognitive abilities trade-off. Some abilities reduce while some improve. An analysis of the results shows that cognitive mechanisms such as perceptual speed, otherwise known as fluid intelligence, muscle mass, and physiological lung capacity, decline over time (Mather, 2020). However, an increase in other abilities such as neurotic ability, knowledge, and experience compensates for these losses. The middle-aged brain has been proven to be calmer, especially in social situations. It also points out that exercising and constant cognitive focus reduces the effects of cognitive decline.
References
Mather, R., 2020. Cognitive Development in Middle Adulthood | Lifespan Development .[online] Courses.lumenlearning.com.Available at :https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-lifespandevelopment/chapter/cognitive-development-in-middle-adulthood/
Phillips, M. (2011). The mind at midlife . https://www.apa.org. Retrieved 19 December 2020, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/04/mind-midlife#:~:text=While%20memorization%20skills%20and%20perceptual,pilots%20and%20air%2Dtraffic%20controllers.
Schaie, K. W., & Willis, S. L. (2010). The Seattle longitudinal study of adult cognitive development. ISSBD bulletin , 57 (1), 24.
