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Everyone Knows Memory Fails as You Age. But Everyone Is Wrong


Photo by Rene Asmussen from Pexels

#1

One wonders if some of the feelings of verbal loss have to do with age at which we peak, the '40s, in that verbal ability seems to rise from our teens, peak in midlife, and decline in our senior years. Peak verbal ability might be in the forties, and although my vocabulary is still increasing - I do NYT Sundays/Thursdays, but could only finish Mondays when I was younger - at 60, it means coming down from a 99th percentile high for other activities.

As to the volume of information, we have at our disposal, although true that it can longer go through large stores, there are increases in the noise levels of the brain, adding to the decline in recovery speed.

#2

I think I'm still the same forgetful person I was when I was a young adult but 4 aspects have changed, resulting in fewer mistakes:

- Development of Habits / Conscientiousness
- Electronic systems/software
- Using alternatives ways of doing things, microwaves, timers, etc.
- Spouse's memory for all the other stuff I'd ignore or forget

I was always someone that got the gist more than the details. I was always good at faces, bad at names. I often lost the house key or burn pots. I'm still someone that can forget to do things, like pick up bananas or milk.

I still would be if it wasn't for the aforementioned life hacks, well...



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