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5 Ways to Keep Your Brain Sharp As You Age
Important parts of the brain tend to atrophy as we get older—yet brain scans of some 70-year-olds resemble those of 20 to 30-year-olds. Emerging research points to habits that may keep the mind sharp during the aging process. “Despite the stereotypes, cognitive decline is not inevitable as you age, and adopting healthy lifestyle habits can significantly reduce your risks for dementia later on in life,” says Sarah Lenz Lock, AARP’s senior vice president and executive director of the Global Council on Brain Health. Start socializing “Social isolation increases dementia risk by 50%” in older adults, says Lock.
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The Psychological Benefits of Commuting to Work
Back when commuting was a requirement for going to work, I once passed through a subway tunnel so filthy and crowded that the poem inscribed on its ceiling seemed like a cruel joke. “overslept, / so tired. / if late, / get fired. / why bother? / why the pain? / just go home / do it again.” “The Commuter’s Lament,” which adorns a subterranean passage in New York City’s 42nd Street station, made the already grim ritual of getting to and from work positively Dante-esque. But no one questioned the gist of it. The commute, according to the Nobel Prize–winning economist Daniel Kahneman’s research, ranked as the single most miserable part of our day.
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New Research in Psychological Science
A sample of research on the fallibility of memory, encephalogram research, voice familiarity, voting preferences, neurodegenerative disease and aging, foreground bias in visual perception, and the responsible use of third-party data.
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New Content From Perspectives on Psychological Science
A sample of articles on gender nonconformity, unpublished studies, race in psychological science, self-correction in science, reproducibility and transparency, environmental variants, cognitive ability, group identities, and well-being public policy.
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New Content From Current Directions in Psychological Science
A sample of articles on extremism, the development of cognition, psychopathology and diagnosis, culture in animals, prediction biases, scams, market cognition, motor and language development.
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Immune Cells Are More Paranoid Than We Thought
The best immune systems thrive on a healthy dose of paranoia. The instant that defensive cells spot something unfamiliar in their midst—be it a living microbe or a harmless mote of schmutz—they will whip themselves into a frenzy, detonating microscopic bombs, sparking bouts of inflammation, even engaging in some casual cannibalism until they are certain that the threat has passed. This system is built on alarmism, but it very often pays off: Most of our encounters with pathogens end before we ever notice them. The agents of immunity are sorisk-averse that even the dreadof facing off with a pathogen can sometimes prompt them to gird their little loins.
