This is article is intriguing and worth reading. As we age and collect more experience our reasoning, judgment, discernment are better. I'd love to hear what you think!
Brain Functions That Improve with Age
12:47 PM Wednesday February 3, 2010
by Barbara Strauch
"Can I still compete?"
It's a question many of us increasingly ask as we reach middle age. We watch younger
colleagues master new computer systems with ease or pull all-nighters
with nary a hair out of place and — quite naturally — we're concerned. Luckily, recent research in brain science suggests that perhaps we should fret less.
Over the past few years,
neuroscientists have begun to zero in on the brain's changes in middle
age, and what they've found is encouraging. Results of long-term
studies show that — contrary to stereotypes — we actually grow smarter
in key areas in middle age which, with longer life spans, now stretches
from our mid 40s to our mid to late 60s.
In areas as diverse as
vocabulary and inductive reasoning, our brains function better than
they did in our 20s. As we age, we more easily get the "gist" of
arguments. Even our judgment of others improves. Often, we simply
"know'' if someone — or some idea — is to be trusted. We also get
better at knowing what to ignore and when to hold our tongues.
Not long ago, a
mid-level executive told me how he'd recently changed the way he deals
with younger colleagues. When gathered to discuss a problem, he keeps
his "mouth shut'' and listens. Even though — more often than not — he
has a good solution, he waits. He does not speak.
"I find it works best if
I let the younger workers talk first, wrestle with the problem in their
own way,'' he told me. "Then after a while, I say what I think might
work. I'm not sure why, but this seems to work best and to help us all
learn and solve the problem better.'' In fact, though he did
not realize it, the executive was using the best parts of his calmer
and more experienced middle-aged brain to help him manage his situation
— and get better results.
It's true that by
midlife our brains can show some fraying. Brain processing speed slows
down. Faced with new information, we often cannot master it as quickly
as our younger peers. And there's little question that our short-term
memories suffer. It's easy to panic when you find you can't remember
the name of that person you know in the elevator, or even the movie you
saw last week.
But it turns out that
such skills don't really matter that much. By midlife our brains have
developed a whole host of talents that are, in the end, just as well
suited to navigating the modern, complex workplace. As we age, we get
better at seeing the possible. Younger brains, predictably, are set up
to focus on the negative and potential trouble. Older brains, studies
show, often reach solutions faster, in part, because they focus on what
can be done.
By the time we reach
middle age, millions of patterns have been established in our brains,
and these connected pathways provide invaluable perspective — even when
it's subconscious. For instance, some middle-aged managers I've spoken
with talked about how solutions seem to "pop'' into their heads "like
magic.''
It doesn't come from magic, of course, but from the very real — and often unappreciated — talents of our middle-aged brains.
Comments