Brain power reaches its peak at age 24: Study

April 17, 2014  13:46

New research suggests brain power reaches its peak at age 24 — and it's mostly downhill from there, in terms of cognitive performance.

The Simon Fraser University study, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLOS ONE, is based on an analysis of the digital performance records of 3,305 individuals — aged 16 to 44 — who played the computer war game StarCraft 2. Their performance records represented thousands of hours of strategic real-time cognitive-based moves performed at varied skill levels, reported NewsMax Health.

Using complex statistical modeling, the researchers distilled how players responded to their opponents and how long they took to react.

SFU's Joe Thompson, a psychology doctoral student who helped lead the analysis, said the findings showed a clear drop-off in performance after peaking at age 24.

But not all the news is bad for the post-24 set. The review showed older players more readily use short cut and sophisticated command keys to compensate for declining speed in making real-time decisions, according to a Medical Xpress report on the research.

"Older players, though slower, seem to compensate by using the game's interface more efficiently than younger players," Thompson said.

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