New research affirms seniors' mental abilities
[22 December 2003 - Boston Globe] It is one of the greatest fears of aging: losing the ability to think quickly, remember accurately, and reason clearly. Years of laboratory testing indicate that these skills decline beginning in young adulthood. But a growing body of research is challenging the depth of this deterioration and its impact, suggesting that most healthy seniors can work, drive, and live independently well into their golden years. "Older adults function much better in life than we give them credit for," said Thomas M. Hess, a psychology professor at North Carolina State University who has conducted some of the new research. "It's providing a more realistic picture of what happens when people age." The research indicates that testing conditions have exaggerated some of the mental declines, and that many older adults compensate easily for the modest changes in their brains with greater vocabulary and world knowledge. ...