Key mental abilities including concentration get better as you age, study finds

It's long been thought that getting on in years leads to a gradual decline in our brainpower. But a new study now suggests that key mental abilities including concentration and attention may actually get better with age. These key brain functions underpin critical cognitive aspects such as memory, self-control and decision making, and even navigation, math, language and reading. 'These results are amazing, and have important consequences for how we should view ageing,' said Michael T. Ullman, a professor at Georgetown University and co-author of the study. 'People have widely assumed that attention and executive functions decline with age, despite intriguing hints from some smaller-scale studies that raised questions about these assumptions.