Some mental abilities actually improve with age! This is great news, because the general view is that our brain volume shrinks and mental abilities decline with age (especially after age 70).
A large Georgetown Univ. Medical Center study of 702 participants (58 to 98 years old) found that two important brain functions actually improve with age, probably due to lifelong experience using them. They were attention and executive functions - which allow us to attend to new information and to focus on what's important in a situation. They underlie memory, decision making, self-control, navigation, language, and reading.
Is this why there is a saying that wisdom comes with age?
From Science Daily: Key mental abilities can actually improve during aging
It's long been believed that advancing age leads to broad declines in our mental abilities. Now new research from Georgetown University Medical Center offers surprisingly good news by countering this view. ...continue reading "Some Thought Processes Improve With Age"