Over-55s use brains more efficiently than youth

It is the retort every parent uses to win an argument with their teenage children: being older makes you wiser.But scientists have come up with evidence that reveals the old adage to be true, proving that the over-55s use their brains much more efficiently than younger people.
Researchers in Canada found that years of life experience makes older brains just as effective when it comes to decision-making as their younger counterparts.
Older people were found to be less bothered by making a mistake and used their brains more selectively than younger minds, only engaging certain parts at the precise moment they were required.
The findings contradict previous theories - and popular beliefs - that suggest our brains deterioriate with age, making us less able to make reasoned decisions.
Scientists from the Institute of Geriatrics at the University of Montreal studied 24 young people aged between 18 and 35, alongside a group of 10 older people aged 55 to 75.The participants were asked to complete a series of increasingly difficult tasks, including pairing up words, while the researchers monitored their brain activity.
The results of neuro-imaging scans showed that the young and old brains reacted very differently when told they had made a mistake in the matching exercise.
While younger players instantly activated several different areas of their brains, the older particpants strugged off the error and kept the relevant parts of their brains dormant until the next task.
Study author Dr Oury Monchi said the experiment was proof that wisdom comes with age. "When it comes to certain tasks, the brains of older adults can achieve very close to the same performance as those of younger ones," he added.
He said the findings resembled the tale of the hare and the tortoise, the fable in which the slower but more cautious competitor wins the race.
"It was already known that ageing is not necessarily associated with a significant loss in cognitive function," Dr Monchi added. "The older brain has experience and knows that nothing is gained by jumping the gun."
Courtesy:The Telegraph