Their study has found that years of life experience makes older brains just as effective when it comes to decision -making as their younger counterparts. It contradicts previous popular beliefs suggesting one’s brain deteriorate with age.
Older people were found to be less bothered by making a mistake and used their brains more selectively than younger minds, only engaging certain parts at the precise moment they were required, according to the study.
“It was already known that ageing is not necessarily associated with a significant loss in cognitive function. The older brain has experience and knows that nothing is gained by jumping the gun,” lead author Dr Oury Monchi at University of Montreal in Canada was quoted by ‘The Daily Telegraph’.
In fact, the researchers studied 24 young people aged between 18 and 35, alongside a group of 10 older people aged 55 to 75. The participants were asked to complete a series of increasingly difficult tasks, including pairing up words, while their brain activities were monitored.
The results of neuro-imaging scans showed that the young and old brains reacted very differently when told they had made a mistake in the matching exercise.
While younger players instantly activated several different areas of their brains, the older participants struggled off the error and kept the relevant parts of their brains dormant until the next task.
Dr Monchi said: “When it comes to certain tasks, the brains of older adults can achieve very close to the same performance as those of younger ones.”
