Cognitive function is thought to decline with age. However, a study published in Nature Human Behavior shows that some of them get better over time in older people.
According to the researchers, previously only small scientific works showed that the issue of cognitive decline with age is not so simple. Their article challenges current thinking on this issue.
Portuguese scientists assessed three separate components of cognitive function in 702 people aged 58 to 98 years:
- Alertness. It ensures attention and readiness to respond to information received.
- Orientation — the ability to switch brain resources to different objects in space.
- Executive inhibition — the ability to suppress distraction from conflicting data . It allows you to focus on what is important.
All these components depend on different parts of the brain, genes and biochemical processes. Scientists indicate that this allowed them to test the functioning of various brain systems.
“We use these three processes to occur constantly. For example, when you drive, vigilance is triggered when you approach an intersection, orientation is triggered when you turn your attention to unexpected things, executive braking is triggered to take your mind off billboards,” said Professor Michael Ullman. Michael T. Ullman) from Georgetown University, co-author of the study.
The study showed that only vigilance suffers in older people. Orientation and executive inhibition, on the contrary, improve.
Scientists suggest that orientation and executive inhibition are functions that improve with practice. This is because these are simple functions that allow you to focus on individual objects. The benefits of practice in this case outweigh the consequences of changes in the nervous tissue. At the same time, mindfulness has little to do with practice. This is probably why it does not improve with age.
“These discoveries not only change our view of how aging affects the mind, but may also lead to improved treatments for people with cognitive disorders,” Ullman said.
He added that the study's findings are especially important in the context of a rapidly aging population.