Although we're slowly gaining an understanding of how the human brain works, it's still one of the few organs in the body we don't truly understand.
Part of the reason why is that the brain changes over time as we age. Now, a team of researchers has figured out just how much it changes, discovering that different parts of the brain are better at certain functions at specific ages.
Previous research shows that fluid intelligence, that part of the brain that lets us think quickly, is best when we're around 20 years old and then slowly declines after that. However, researchers at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital discovered that other brain functions also see peak functionality at certain ages, after which they decline.
"At any given age, you're getting better at some things, you're getting worse at some other things, and you're at a plateau at some other things," says Joshua Hartshorne, of MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. "There's probably not one age at which you're peak on most things, much less all of them."
The research team used an extensive online survey and cognitive skill tests, coupled with previous older research, to find out which parts of the brain work better at which ages. They came up with a way to combine and analyze their data and then noticed that there wasn't really a single peak period for all brain abilities; each peak happened at a different age.
Another Internet study backed these results: each cognitive ability they tested for peaked at a different age. They found that the speed at which the brain processes information peaks around 18 and that short-term memory peaks around 25. The ability to understand others' emotional states peaked in the 40s and 50s.
Of course, that leads to the next question: Why? Why do these specific brain functions peak at certain ages? What does that say about human brain development over time? It's probable that genetic changes in the brain trigger these functions to peak and then decline, but we need more research to understand how that actually works.
"The brain seems to continue to change in dynamic ways through early adulthood and middle age," says Laura Germine, from Massachusetts General Hospital. "The question is: What does it mean? How does it map onto the way you function in the world, or the way you think, or the way you change as you age?"
