Geoff Johnson: Staying Challenged is the Best Way to Fight Off the Years

Aging is often wrongly associated with a decline in cognitive abilities, especially those abilities important for maintaining functional independence such as learning new skills or pursuing further and enhancing old skills.

The aging/learning question remains moot despite a plethora of tests and studies that seem, at first glance, to suggest that older people may do less well than younger people on standard intelligence tests.

But when other studies follow individuals over time, very little decline is seen. Tests of verbal skill such as information retention, vocabulary and comprehension seem to remain steady.

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An article in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association of Psychological Science quotes scientist and lead researcher Dr. Denise Park, of the University of Texas at Dallas, as explaining: “When you are inside your comfort zone, you may be outside of the enhancement zone.”

Park goes on to suggest that less-demanding activities, such as listening to classical music or completing word puzzles, probably won’t bring significant cognitive benefits to an aging mind.

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