Articles related to focusing on healthy aging, prevention, mobility, cognition, nutrition, independence, and caregiving support.
According to the Seattle Longitudinal Study, middle-aged adults perform better on several cognitive tasks than they did when they were younger. This complex pattern of gains and losses is central to understanding what happens intellectually during middle adulthood.
While some studies indicate a gradual decline in certain mental abilities after age 30, groundbreaking research shows that many intellectual skills and emotional strengths actually improve or peak during midlife. Understanding what happens cognitively in middle adulthood means appreciating a complex and often misunderstood period of development.
According to the Seattle Longitudinal Study, which has tracked adult cognitive abilities since 1956, middle-aged adults perform better on several cognitive tasks, such as verbal memory and vocabulary, than they did in young adulthood. This research directly addresses and helps clarify **what intellectual ability increases over adulthood**, challenging the common misconception that all cognitive functions decline with age.
By age five, a child's brain has already reached nearly 90% of its adult size, forming over a million new neural connections every second. When considering what age does your brain change the most, the answer is complex because the type and magnitude of change vary significantly across the lifespan, from explosive growth in infancy to deliberate refinement in later years.
