Home / Summaries / The Handy Psychology Answer Book / brain-speed-age

Brain and Behavior - The Aging Brain

4 important questions on Brain and Behavior - The Aging Brain

How does the brain age?

An unfortunate aspect of aging involves the gradual degeneration of most organs. The brain is no exception. There is an overall decrease in the speed, flexibility and efficiency of neuronal networks. There is atrophy and shrinking of many parts of the brain. However, the news is not all grim. Much can be done to preserve brain health in aging.

What is cortical atrophy?

Cortical atrophy refers to the shrinking of the neocortex that occurs with age. The gyri (convolutions) shrink, the sulci (grooves between gyri) and the ventricles (vessels filled with cerebral spinal fluid) expand, and there is about a 17 percent decrease in brain weight in both sexes by age eighty.

What impact does brain aging have on mental functioning?

The reduction in brain volume and density definitely has an impact on the aging adult's cognitive functions. These changes correspond with decreased processing speed, working memory, and psychomotor speed, and a reduced ability to commit new information to memory.

However, many critical cognitive functions remain intact well into late life. Recognition memory, verbal skills, conceptual abilities, and general IQ stay stable for a long time despite decreases in speed and raw processing power.

What is the difference between crystallized and fluid intelligence?

Psychologists make a distinction between crystalized intelligence, which remains stable into old age, and fluid intelligence, which reduces with age.

Crystallized intelligence involves verbal skills, conceptual skills, and fund of knowledge.

Fluid intelligence involves immediate information processing skills, such as the speed at which information is processed, the amount of information that can be processed at a time, and the ability to commit new information to memory.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

The Handy Psychology Answer Book | 9781578593545 | Lisa J Cohen

View summary