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Comment by Patrick_Devine | Hacker News Reader

These studies drive me crazy. Maybe I'm wrong, but I always feel like some researcher got busy with a dataset and a copy of R, saw some correlation and then wrote a blog post about how we're all doomed.

My personal experience is that I'm sharper at 40 than 20, I know more, and I learn more quickly because I've learned to be more efficient with my time. I cannot say the same about all of the other people I grew up with. Often, they're just too tired to read a book, learn a new instrument, write some code or (heaven forbid) start a company. They'd rather chill out and watch TV.

Which is fine, but if you're not using your noggin, it's not going to be as sharp as it was when you were being forced to use it in college.

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"My personal experience is that I'm sharper at 40 than 20 "

I think it is hard to judge oneself objectively, especially a self that is 20 years in the past.

It is better to look at other people. My older colleagues usually seem to take more time to understand stuff. But analyzing this closer, during discussions for example, reveals that they think a lot more while they try to fit the new stuff into what they already know. Young colleagues accept things much faster and want to go on. As a consequence they seem to be less critical and farseeing in average.

Also, my smart older colleagues usually have really good and sophisticated solutions to problems. Judging by the degree of sophistication, I am rarely surprised, that it takes them longer to develop solutions.

My experience is pretty much the same as yours. I feel sharper in some ways. I definitely work much smarter than I did in my 20s by magnitudes.

Although, mildly annoying, I find myself more frequently going to another room to fetch something and forgetting what the thing was.

Wiser, sure. More productive and efficient, sure. But raw cognitive power to learn wholly new ideas/languages, no way.

I dunno.. most of the spoken languages that I've learned I picked up in my 30s (bits of japanese, chinese, swedish, irish). I also took up piano at 38 and can play reasonably well, having never played an instrument before in my life.

I would agree with misterjangles about memory. My 6 year old daughter can beat me the odd time in various memory games. When I do beat her, I think it's probably because I'm relying on strategy as well as memorization. But is my memory getting weaker because I can use strategy instead, or is it just some kind of natural decline?

I wonder too, is your daughter more able to completely focus on the game?

My personal feeling is that around 40, your new skill gathering has not declined too much, yet you have a ton of experience which helps you with analogies and enforcing connections in your brain.

I got my masters in late 30s and it was much different than for people doing it in early 20s. That is I did most of the learning by analogy, drawing from my own experience, but I had a hard time with lot of minutia which was much easier in 20s. It certainly felt my blade had dulled and still feels that way (and is not going to get better!).

Also, I am still waiting for examples of people taking up a completely new skill in their 30s or 40 and reaching proficiency of those who started in their teens.

So far I have not found any. The best has been someone in their late 20s starting to play chess and becoming a master, when they were already holding high dan at shogi.

How about a writer who started at 44 and then made a big name for herself at the age of 64?

http://flavorwire.com/349249/10-great-literary-late-bloomers...

Did you read the article at all? The new study says that we are NOT doomed.

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