Research: Good brain characteristics are at their peak only in 55-60 year olds

General psychological functioning is even at its peak at around 55–60 years of age.

Such somewhat surprising conclusions were made by the assistant professor of psychology Gilles E. Gignac from the University of Western Australia. He and his group studied how the elderly fare in the areas of cognitive skills.

The study was just published in Intelligence journal.

Money research shows that a person reaches their physical peak at the age of 25. It is also widely estimated that intellectual abilities – the skills to reason, remember and process information quickly – begin to decline at a young age, even at the age of 25.

Sometimes this is probably the case, also writes assistant professor Gignac. Athletes, for example, usually reach the peak of their career before they turn 30. Even mathematicians usually do their most important work before the age of 35.

However, if you look beyond information processing that requires just such intellectual abilities, a different picture of the brain opens up, according to Gignac. He writes on the subject In The Conversation online magazine.

Gignac focused in the research on traits that represent the permanent characteristics of a person.

Gignac and his groups identified 16 psychological dimensions that represent permanent traits. These include central knowledge, i.e. cognitive abilities. These include, for example, reasoning, memory span, memory processing speed and emotional intelligence.

The measured dimensions also included the so-called big five personality traits – extroversion, emotional stability, conscientiousness, openness to experience and agreeableness.

Gignac gathered together the studies that looked at these dimensions and made them comparable. The team combined the 16 dimensions of age-related developmental costs and then created a weighted index.

Score surprised. Several characteristics seemed to reach their peak quite late.

Based on the results, conscientiousness was at its peak at around 65 years of age, and emotional stability only at 75 years of age.

The ability to resist cognitive biases, on the other hand, can improve well beyond the age of 70. This skill helps to make accurate decisions.

General mental functioning was at its peak between the ages of 55 and 60. Then it started going down. The decline intensified after the age of 75.

Score may shed light on the distribution of management positions in working life.

Many of the most demanding management positions in business, politics and public life are often held by people in their 50s and 60s.

Evaluators of working life should more generally focus on the real abilities and characteristics of individuals, not age, urges Gignac.

It might be time to recognize in working life as well that many people have strengths in middle age. According to Gignac, middle age can be considered peak age.