Page 171 - Mind Games The Aging Brain and How to Keep it Healthy

Regain an Agile Brain • 155

• Older persons who keep active and stimulated may im-
prove their scores on intelligence tests.
• Some studies indicate that there may be no decline in
cognitive abilities.

The Berlin Aging Study, a study of 75- to 105-year-olds liv-
ing in West Berlin, shows that some of those who were 85 to
105 years old showed higher levels of performance than indi-
viduals in the 70-to-84-year-old age group. In another study,
Douglas Powell tested the math and reading-comprehension
skills of more than 1,500 persons. The subjects ranged in age
from 25 to 92 years old. He found that 25 percent to 33 percent
of subjects in their 80s performed as well as the younger par-
ticipants. Moreover, even the lowest scorers exhibited only
small declines that did not interfere with daily living. Powell
coined the term optimal agers to describe a small fraction of
those in their 80s and 90s who exhibited exceptional scores,
placing them near the top of mental abilities for all ages.
The MacArthur Studies of Successful Aging identified
four traits common to those people who are most likely to
remain mentally sharp and active. They
• Are better educated

• Are more physically active
• Have better lung capacity
• Possess higher self-efficacy

Many other longitudinal and cross-sectional studies
have attempted to determine those characteristics that
make some individuals optimal agers. Dr. K. Warner Schaie
began the Seattle Longitudinal Study in 1956. Since that
time, he has followed more than 5,000 people. Every seven
years, he interviews and tests them to determine their
progress and declines, if any. He has determined that vari-
ous characteristics are associated with an individual’s abil-
ity to maintain mental agility and alertness:
• An absence of cardiovascular and other diseases
• A high socioeconomic status