Our brains start to slow down once we hit 24, researchers have discovered.
They analysed thousands of players of the hugely popular Starcraft 2 computer game, and saw a universal slowdown far earlier than they expected.
They claim that as soon as players hit the ripe old age of 25, they have already reached their peak in terms of cognitive motor performance.
The team from Simon Fraser University analysed the digital performance records of 3,305 StarCraft 2 players, aged 16 to 44.
StarCraft 2 is a ruthless competitive intergalactic computer war game that players often undertake to win serious money.
Their performance records, which can be readily replayed, constitute big data because they represent thousands of hours worth of strategic real-time cognitive-based moves performed at varied skill levels.
Using complex statistical modelling, the researchers looked 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,’ said Joe Thompson, a psychology doctoral student who led the study.
‘This cognitive performance decline is present even at higher levels of skill.’
However, they say there is a silver lining for older players
‘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.’
