Aging has a gradual, steadily progressive impact on memory processes. Compared to young people, older people are less skilled in associating unrelated items presented to them. This decline is greatest when older subjects have to associate different stimuli to produce a complex memory, and is probably due to loss of nerve cells in the association areas (brain regions responsible for associating different events and stimuli) in the parahippocampus and the frontal lobes.
However, in these same experiments, older people were much better than their young counterparts at tasks requiring planning, organization, and the manipulation of information. In other words, even though young
adults are much better at learning new information than middle-aged and older people, they fall short when it comes to tasks that require careful planning and judgment. You should recognize this organizational capacity as an important strength in yourself when you evaluate your intellectual capabilities.
Aging Changes Your Mental Abilities
Reaction time to an event slows
Dealing with multiple stimuli and tasks becomes difficult
Thinking slows
Learning new information becomes difficult
Remembering names becomes more difficult
Short-term memory slowly deteriorates
Intelligence and long-term memory are preserved, including memory for music and other artistic memories
Common sense, planning, organizational skills, and judgment improve. You develop wisdom.
Taken From: The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss
and Enhance Memory Power
