The bad news is that brain functions really do decline as we
age, or as the researchers in a study published in the journal, Psychology and
Aging, your brain “slows” with age
But before that depresses the hell out of all you aging
baby-boomers, that doesn’t mean that your decision-making abilities shrink,
too.
In fact, in this study of roughly 400 people, half of whom
were under the age of30, the rest over 65 and up to 82, the researchers
concluded that the older folks actually “out-thought” the younger ones in terms
of problem-solving that involves fluid intelligence, what we use to make
decisions.
Or as they put, older participants performed just as well or
better than the younger participants in all decision-making measures.
Why?
Older folks were, as you’d expect, way more patient on
average, hence they could think the problems through more thoroughly.
Older people also drew on their life experience, and
clearly, they had a major advantage in this over the still-wet-behind-the-ears
kids.
