It’s one of the eternal questions about aging: At what age do we reach our peak? The answer isn’t so easy, because it depends on what you consider your “peak” to be: Intelligence, physical fitness levels and beauty all meet their scientific peak at different ages.But when it comes to cognitive motor performance—the fancy name for how long it takes your brain to react to something—if you’re over 24 years of age you’ve already reached your peak, according to an April 2014 Simon Fraser University study.The answer came from analyzing data from a video game (at least they’re good for something) StarCraft 2. The 3,305 players ranged in age from 16 to 44. Researchers crunched the data on thousands of hours of strategic real-time cognitive-based moves performed at varied skill levels, looking at how players responded to their opponents and more importantly, how long they took to react.”After around 24 years of age, players show slowing in a measure of cognitive speed that is known to be important for performance,” explains lead author of the study Joe Thompson. “This cognitive performance decline is present even at higher levels of skill.”But there’s a silver lining in this earlier-than-expected slippery slope into old age. “Our research tells a new story about human development,” says Thompson.”Older players, though slower, seem to compensate by employing simpler strategies and using the game’s interface more efficiently than younger players, enabling them to retain their skill, despite cognitive motor-speed loss.” For example, older players more readily use short cut and sophisticated command keys to compensate for declining speed in executing real time decisions.The findings, says Thompson, suggest “that our cognitive-motor capacities are not stable across our adulthood, but are constantly in flux, and that our day-to-day performance is a result of the constant interplay between change and adaptation.”So at least we have something to look forward to.MORE: You Don’t Have to Be 25 to Have a Quarter-Life Crisis
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