50 is the new 42: technology is making brains of middle-aged younger
50 is the new 42: technology is making brains of
middle-aged younger
The increasing mental demands of technology is making
older people sharper than previous generations, scientists have shown
Sarah Knapton By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor 8:00PM BST
31 Aug 2015
50 is the new 42, scientists have concluded, after
discovering that the brains of middle-aged people are getting sharper and younger
to keep up with the demands of modern technology.
People over age 50 are scoring increasingly better on
tests of cognitive function and researchers believe it is because of the
increased mental stimulation of computers and mobile phones.
Although experts have previously worried that technology
was causing people to stop thinking, in fact, it appears that the mental skills
needed to operate increasingly complex gadgets are making people smarter.
The average person now needs to remember 10 passwords a
day to access work computers, open email, use internet banking, pay online
bills or log on to social networks.
Once inside programmes, they are often confronted with a
vast array of commands and options, leading to increased decision making.
A population study of English over 50s found that the
test scores of people today were the same or better than those of people up to
eight years younger, who were tested six years ago.
Researchers at the International Institute for Applied
Systems Analysisat in Austria, also looked at population surveys in Germany in
2006 and then again in 2012, which measured brain processing speed, physical
fitness and mental health.
Cognition normally begins to decline with age, and is one
key characteristic that demographers use to understand how different population
groups age more successfully than others.
But although physical and mental health declined over the
six year period, the academics found that cognitive test stores increased
significantly.
“We think that these divergent results can be explained
by changing lifestyles,” says IIASA World Population Program researcher Dr
Nadia Steiber.
“Life has become cognitively more demanding, with
increasing use of communication and information technology also by older
people, and people working longer in intellectually demanding jobs. At the same
time, we are seeing a decline in physical activity and rising levels of
obesity.”
Valeria Bordone a researcher at IIASA who carried out the
English studies added: “On average, test scores of people aged 50 plus today
correspond to test scores from people four to eight years younger and tested
six years earlier.”
The studies both provide confirmation of the “Flynn
effect” — a trend in rising performance in standard IQ tests from generation to
generation.
But the academics say that changes in education levels in
the population can explain part, but not all of the effect.
Miss Bordone added, “We show for the first time that
although compositional changes of the older population in terms of education
partly explain the Flynn effect, the increasing use of modern technology such as
computers and mobile phones in the first decade of the 2000's also contributes
considerably to its explanation.”
Last year a study by the University of Aberdeen and NHS
Grampian found that children who grew up during the Second World War became far
more intelligent than those who were born just 15 years before because they ate
healthier diets.
Researchers think that cutting rich, sugary and fatty
foods out of the diets of growing children had a hugely beneficial impact on
their growing brains.
Consequently, children born in 1936 grew up to have IQ
scores on average 16.5 points ahead of those born in 1921.
A recent study found that some 72 per cent of over-55s
are familiar with basic internet terminology such as "Wifi",
"router", "cursor" and "bandwidth", compared to
only 61 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds.
The research was published in the journals PLOS One and
Intelligence.
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