Subscribe to this blog
Mental functioning starts heading south in your 30s, accelerating in your 50s.
The "mental exercise" hypothesis has been around since 1920, and studies find that higher mental activity is associated with better cognitive function. That has spawned the idea that, to keep your brain young(ish), you should partake of intellectual challenges.
But just because older adults who are more mentally active are sharper than peers who are cognitive couch potatoes doesn't mean mental activitiy in old age raises cognitive performances, let alone slows the rate of decline. To conclude that it does confuses correlation with causation.
According to a new analysis by Timothy Salthouse of the University of Virginia, a veteran of studies on aging and cognition, "There is no convincing empirical evidence that mental activity slows the rate of cognitive decline. The research I reviewed is just not consistent with the idea that engaging in mentally stimulating activities as you age prevents or slows cognitive decline."
Evaluating use-it-and-you-won't-lose-it in a new journal, Perspectives on Psychological Science, Professor Salthouse ends on a grim note: There is "little scientific evidence that engagement in mentally stimulating activities alters the rate of mental aging." He regards the belief as "more of an optimistic hope than an empirical reality."
Source: Science Journal, The Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2006
