Why you're getting smarter with age and
other welcome surprises.

...neuroscientists have found that the aged brain
actually has surprising talents. It has developed
powerful systems that can cut through the
intricacies of complex problems to find concrete
answers. It more calmly manages emotions
and information and is cheerier than in younger
years. New studies suggests that the way
our brains age may give us a broader perspective
on the world, a capacity to see patterns,
connect the dots, even be more creative.

Yes, memory such as name retrieval and speed
decline but experience makes up for it.
If what you are doing depends on knowledge,
then you're going to do very well as you get older.

A doctor who's been practicing medicine 30 years
or longer can now often instantly evaluate a
complex medical situation and come up with
effective solutions whereas younger physcians
may get lost in coming up with convincing answers.
In other words, older brains are better at making
connections, research shows.

Yes, you take longer to assimilate new information.
But faced with information that relates to what
you already know, your brain tends to work quicker
and smarter, discerning patterns and jumping to
the logical end point.

One of the longest, largest, and most respected
studies of people as they age, the Seattle Longitudinal
Study, which has tracted the mental prowess of
6000 people for more than 40 years, found that
on average, participants performed better on cognitive
tests in middle age than they had in early adulthood.
From age 40 through their 60s, people did better on
tests on vocabulary, spatial orientation skills, and
inductive reasoning than they had when they were
in their 20s. ....

from Readers Digest, May 2010