genius tends to peak early.
Nevertheless, on the whole, these results
should be considered good news for older adults.
Unless you’re trying to win the Nobel Prize in
Physics at a very old age, there are a lot of do-
mains of knowledge that you can continue to
learn about throughout your life. What’s more,
Ackerman found that certain measures of person-
ality, such as intellectual curiosity, were related to
domain-specific knowledge above and beyond the
effects of standard measures of intelligence.
And even if you do want to maintain your fluid
intelligence as long as possible, there is recent
research suggesting that having a greater pur-
pose in life can help protect against cognitive de-
cline among older adults. Giyeon Kim of Chung-
Ang University in South Korea and colleagues
combined seven items looking at various aspects
of purpose, including plans for the future, impor-
tance of daily activities, dedication to ensure plans
made are actualized in the future, a good sense of
what one wishes to accomplish in life, whether
one has accomplished all one wishes to accom-
plish in life, whether one cares about the future,
and whether one has a sense of direction and
purpose in one’s life. They found that after adjust-
ing for covariates, purpose in life acted as a pro-
tective factor against cognitive decline.* The re-
searchers argue that purpose in life could be used
as a treatment technique for cognitive decline in
clinical settings.
Their research adds to a growing literature
showing the many benefits of maintaining a pur-
pose in life for health and well-being. Greater pur-
pose in life has been linked to reduced all-cause
mortality and cardiovascular problems, increased
longevity, maintenance of general physical func-
tioning, reduced risk of stroke and reduced inci-
dence of sleep disturbances. One longitudinal
study over a 10-year period found that increased
meaning in life was associated with lower allostat-
ic load (the “wear and tear on the body”). This is
important considering that allostatic load has also
been positively linked with increased risk of dis-
eases, mortality and cognitive decline.
The good news for older adults is that not only
can we continue to acquire domain-specific knowl-
edge into older age, but purpose in life is also modi-
fiable. It seems that the question “When does intel-
ligence peak?” is actually a rather meaningless
question. Not only do our various cognitive func-
tions peak at different times, but past a certain age
it might make more sense to view adult intelligence
not through the lens of youthful general processing
speed and reasoning, but through the lens of ex-
pertise, wisdom and purpose.
--
*Interestingly, the results were particularly pro-
nounced among older people and those who are
black, and they did not find any effect based on sex.Opinion