Some Cognitive Skills Improve As We Age, New Study Finds

Brain News: New research from Georgetown University Medical Center found two key brain functions, which improve cognitive abilities and memory in older individuals.

The new study published in Nature Human Behaviour, revealed that two key brain functions, which allow us to attend to new information and to focus on what’s important in a given situation, can in fact improve in older individuals. These functions underlie critical aspects of cognition such as memory, decision making, and self-control, and even navigation, math, language, and reading.

“These results are amazing, and have important consequences for how we should view aging,” says the study’s senior investigator, Michael T. Ullman, PhD.

It is a common thinking that advancing age leads to broad declines in our attention, executive functions and mental health. But, the new research results have important implications because of the rapidly aging population across the world. There is a need for further research so that attention and other cognitive skills can be improved as protection against brain decline in healthy aging and disorders.

To Know More You May Refer To:

Veríssimo, J., Verhaeghen, P., Goldman, N., Weinstein, M., & Ullman, M. T. (2021). Evidence that ageing yields improvements as well as declines across attention and executive functions. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-021-01169-7