Getting old doesn't mean you won't be able to continue thinking for yourself. A new study by the MetLife Mature Market Institute and the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas found that aging does not correlate with deteriorating ability to think for ourselves.
The study, which looked at men and women in their 50s, 60s and 70s, found that those who demonstrated smart decision-making also excelled at strategic learning-the ability to sift more important information from the less important.
Although study participants in all three life stages had about the same strategic learning abilities, the oldest participant group slightly surpassed the rest, implying that strategic learning capacity may actually increase with age in normally functioning adults.
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"Healthy Brain, Healthy Decisions: The MetLife Study of Decision-Making Potential" also found that study participants in their 70s were more conscientious, considered their options before making a decision and avoided impulsive decision-making when compared to those in their 50s.
Researchers gauged participants' financial conscientiousness, the trait of being careful and organized, using a series of questions regarding monthly budgeting practices and financial retirement plans. Individuals in their 70s reported having a more conscientious style of decision-making than their counterparts in their 50s.
Men and women performed equally well at logically consistent decision-making and at strategic learning. In both men and women, strategic learning proficiency was associated with the ability to make logically consistent decisions.
Men and women differed in the relationship between decision-making and traditional measures of cognitive function. Men who scored in the superior range of cognitive ability such as IQ, working memory, verbal fluency and processing speed made more logically consistent decisions than men who scored in the average range.
In contrast, there were no significant differences in logical consistency across the cognitive levels in women.
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