Brain Science:
There is mounting evidence that while younger brains excel at noticing details, older brains take in the big picture. As the brain gets older it shifts to processing information in a more conceptual way. This is in part thanks to the hippocampus. It has been proven that with use, the hippocampus can continue to grow well into the seventies. As you get older and store experiences in your brain you begin to put the hippocampus to work doing something called “pattern completion”. This is the process of drawing memories from the brain and comparing them to others to form meaning? Below is an example of a young brain and an old brain using pattern completion?
Let’s say you are on a winding road and a car passes you and cuts you off. If you’re a teenager you would likely zero in on the car, noting the make and type of car and probably use a few profane words in your description of the car.
But an older brain might connect with this incident, compare it with previous similar experiences and spend immediate thoughts and energy on concluding that this is another near miss on a similar road and that you should make a mental note to be extra careful on these winding roads. So the pattern completion process helps us apply something we have learned in a prior context to the now. Dr. Kensinger (of previous texts) says: It is what we call wisdom?
Brain Facts:
Below is listed several other ways an older person’s brain is better.
· Older people in general display improvements in emotional perception later in life. Older brains in general remain more attentive. In a 2015 study of 10,000 participants ranging from 10 to 70, middle aged folks had the greatest capacity to remain attentive.
· Older brains are more resilient. Neuroscientists believe that regions in the brain are linked up by circuits, or networks. We have now discovered that over the course of our lives, these networks become more adaptable to change. The National Institute of Mental Health found evidence (through study using magnetic pulses to manipulate the brains of adults in their 60s and 70s.) that decreased activity in an area that controls memory processing; older brains recruit other regions of the brain to help make up the difference.
· Older people are more articulate. Studies from the seventies suggested that a person's vocabulary and other aspects of intelligence were strongest at age 40 and then trickled down hill. However more recent studies (2015) used web based testing and have discovered the opposite: Subsequent studies now conclude vocabulary and intelligence improve well into the 70s.
· Older brains spot silver linings. Dr.Kinsinger (from previous texts) states: “when you are young, your brain zeros in on the negative.”… “Luckily that changes as we get older, we prioritize the positive, which can be very helpful for our mental health.” Kinsinger co-published a study, published in 2018, that revealed younger peoples reaction to the Boston Bombing focused on the devastation and other negative outcomes. The same study of older persons showed they preferred to focus on positive outcomes such as outpouring of community support and acts of heroism.
So What:
Agreed that your brain slows as you age, however, that does not mean that your thinking process is beginning to stop. On the contrary, the older we get, it seems the more our brains can handle complex thought. Older folks are generally more capable of weighing the pros and cons of life. Older people are more capable of moving forward in a more deliberate and thoughtful way. What that means to older people is that to take time as we do in decision making is of benefit to all of us and in fact offsets some of the tendency of younger others to make impulsive decisions. Again it’s the yen and the yang. Snap judgments on the young end and slow deliberate decisions on the older end. At times we may need snap and quick reactions. At other times we need more deliberate and reasoned approaches from older people. In short, older adults need to be respected for what we call “Wisdom”.
Note:
This is national Alzheimer’s and brain health month. If you see anything new as a result please feel free to forward to me.
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