IS IT ALL DOWNHILL AFTER 40 (OR 50 OR 60 OR 70) ?

Rodney Morton

WHAT IS COGNITIVE SKILLS??

•It is true that some cognitive skills decline as you get older.•Cognitive aka cognition is a group of mental processes that works with making decisions, memory, attention, understanding languages, and problems.•Cognitive abilities can decline at any age if they are not used regularly •They can be sharpened at any age with the right conditioning.

Younger Children

Young children are not only growing physically during early childhood, but they are also growing mentally

Children are better at learning new languages than adults.

Children are quicker to judge if two objects are same or different

According to French speaking Swiss psychologist John Piaget children goes through two phases in cognitive growth.

The more important of the two is Symbolic Function sub-stage being able to create mental images to store them for later.

Important parts of the BrainBrain Regions and functionsFrontal lobe—self-control, judgment, emotional regulation; restructured in teen yearsCorpus callosum—intelligence, consciousness and self-awareness; reaches full maturity in 20’sParietal lobes—integrate auditory, visual, and tactile signals; immature until age 16 Temporal lobes—emotional maturity; still developing after age 16

THE CONCLUSION OF BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

•As stated in the last slide the brain is still developing in the teen stages and supposedly comes to a stop at the age of 20• It is to be believed that cognitive function becomes less efficient with age.• researchers discovered that in some people’s brain showed reductions in white matter integrity over time • Which would cause degradation •There are many diseases such as Alzheimer's that contribute to brain Degradation.

Adults

An adult brain also has it’s advantages They can see the whole scenario of events

being able to size up a situation much faster

They can get to the main point of a problem quicker

Overall the elder brain has more wisdom over the younger children

We can actually improve our brains if we remain healthy. Increasing our chance to live our whole lives with pretty sharp brains

Causes of Cognitive Disorders Tumors Stroke Diseases (Alzheimer’s) Mixed Dementia Head Trauma Many More Fall Under this

Category…

Sources

http://www.habigerelderlaw.com/library/older-brains-vs-younger-brains.cfm

http://www.bhcmhmr.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=12758&cn=462

http://www.actforyouth.net/resources/rf/rf_brain_0502.pdf

http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=13148&cn=231

Top Ten Myths About the Brain