The Mental Strength 80 Years Olds Possess Might Surprise you

I want to share some information written by Gary M. Stern.

I've noticed a trend in society of categorizing all elderly individuals, especially those in their eighties, as having declining mental faculties similar to the two current presidential candidates. This assumption concerned me, so I decided to do some research.

To my surprise, I found that not all individuals in their eighties or older experience cognitive decline. I have personally witnessed younger individuals facing cognitive challenges such as lapses in memory, declining cognitive skills, and shortened attention spans.

According to Alan Swope, an emeritus professor of psychology at Alliant International University in San Francisco, older individuals can outperform younger people on tests of intelligence that are based on accumulated knowledge and experience.

Swope also cites Daniel Levitin, a neuroscientist and author, who notes that some aspects of memory actually improve with age. For example, our ability to identify patterns, and regularities, and make accurate predictions improves over time due to accumulated experience. Comments and sharing information written By Gary M. Stern

Even though I am not in this age category as God and time allows I will get there. I was concerned with society putting all octogenarians in the same classification as the current two presidential candidates. Who appear to have lapse memories, and declining mental faculties.

As my norm, I begin to research these findings. Only to discover as I thought this is not always the case that someone who is in their eighties or older is not able to perform as the younger generation. I work with the younger generation and I have witnessed continual lapse of memory and declining cognitive skills. Delayed attention span and a host of other mental breakdowns which according to what is being portrayed by the media are not true to say or factual information.

Alan Swope, an emeritus professor of psychology at Alliant International University in San Francisco, says, "Older individuals can outperform younger people on tests of intelligence that are based on accumulated knowledge and experience."

What other cognitive strengths does an 80-year-old possess cognitively?

Swope cites Daniel Levitin, a neuroscientist, cognitive psychologist, and author, who noted that some aspects of memory improve with age. "For instance, our ability to extract patterns, regularities and make accurate predictions improve over time because we've had more experience," Levitin notes.

Swope refers to a whole category of octogenarians as "cognitive super-agers" who show minimal or no age-related mental decline. Let me pause and interject here I am not writing about the behavior of any political party or trying to justify their ability to perform. I am writing and sharing other information at this point because society seems to roll with what social and news media have to say about different subjects. Sealing that information as concretionary evidence without doing their own research. This is personal to me, persa - because I know how I roll and my innate insatiable appetite for education and learning. Which has gotten better over the years.