Sorry to bring you the bad news, guys. Timothy Salthouse, Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia studying cognitive aging, found that reasoning, speed of thought and spatial visualization start to decline at age 27:
The first age at which there was any marked decline was at 27 in tests of brain speed, reasoning and visual puzzle-solving ability.
Things like memory stayed intact until the age of 37, on average, while abilities based on accumulated knowledge, such as performance on tests of vocabulary or general information, increased until the age of 60.
Professor Salthouse said his findings suggested "some aspects of age-related cognitive decline begin in healthy, educated adults when they are in their 20s and 30s."
Link - via Blue's News
a) You can take parts of the brain out and still have a fully functioning human.
b) You can increase a human's capacity for learning, intelligence, etc. at any age.
(the lab I work in studies cognitive development/ decline, and as a lowly 1st year, I've been reading up on his articles!)
lol at Robolasse!
But truthfully, I think we over-estimate the horror of normal cognitive aging. Frankly, when your brain is pretty much done growing, it has to do that other thing now ;D
However, I do hope the study is wrong. As I've gotten older, I have suspected and feared as much.