Ever traipsed to the shops only to find once there you’ve completely forgotten what you went for? Or struggled to remember the name of an old acquaintance? For years we’ve accepted that a scatty brain is as much a part of ageing as wrinkles and grey hair. But now a new book suggests we’ve got it all wrong。

走到商店却忘记要买什么了？老熟人的名字怎么都想不起来？数年来我们以为脑功能下降和皱纹丛生、头发花白一样，是人类老去现象的组成部分，然而日前一部新书告诉我们一切都不是那么回事。

According to the Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain, by science writer Barbara Strauch, when it comes to the important stuff, our brains actually get better with age. In fact, she argues that a raft of new studies have found that our brain hits its peak between our 40s and 60s – much later than previously thought。

科学作家芭芭拉在其新书《成熟大脑的秘密生活》中写道，在重大事情处理方面，我们的大脑随年龄变得更聪明。她称实际上已经有一系列研究发现人类脑功能在40岁到60岁时达到巅峰状态——远比我们曾经认为的要晚。

Furthermore, rather than losing many brain cells as we age, we retain them, and even generate new ones well into middle age. For years it’s been assumed that the brain, much like the body, declines with age. But the longest, largest study into what happens to people as they age suggests otherwise。

而且，随着年龄增大，我们并不会损失脑细胞，相反，我们会保留它们甚至在中年阶段产生出新的脑细胞。数年来人们以为大脑和身体一样会随着年龄退化。然而一项关于年龄和功能的规模最大时间也最长的研究表明，事实并不是这样。

This continuing research has followed 6,000 people since 1956, testing them every seven years. It has found that, on average, participants performed better on cognitive tests in their late 40s and 50s than they had in their 20s. Specifically, older people did better on tests of vocabulary, spatial orientation skills (imagining what an object would look like if it were rotated 180 degrees)， verbal memory (how many words you can remember) and problem solving。

该研究自1956年起跟踪调查了6000名受试者，每隔七年对他们进行一次测试。结果发现，在认知测试中的表现方面，平均而言受试者在40岁末以及50岁末比他们在20多岁时表现要好。具体来说，年长者在这几方面表现更好：词汇量测试、空间方向技能(将物体旋转180度，看该物体像什么)，词汇记忆(能记住多少个单词)以及问题解决能力。

Where they fared less well was number ability (how quickly you can multiply, add, subtract and divide) and perceptual speed – how fast you can push a button when prompted. However, with more complex tasks such as problem-solving and language, we are at our best at middle age and beyond. In short, researchers are now coming up with scientific proof of that we do get wiser with age。

年长者表现不太好的方面则是：数字能力(加减乘除运算的速度)以及感知速度——听到指令按下按钮的速度。尽管如此，在处理复杂任务例如问题解决以及语言方面，我们在中年甚至年纪更大时表现最佳。一言概之，研究人员正在以科学证据证明：我们在变老，但同时也变得更加智慧。

Neuroscientists are also finding that we are happier with age. A recent US study found older people were much better at controlling and balancing their emotions. It is thought that when we’re younger we need to focus more on the negative aspects of life in order to learn about the possible dangers in the world, but as we get older we’ve learnt our lessons and are sub-consciously aware that we have less time left in life – and it therefore becomes more important for us to be happy。

此外，神经学家还发现人们越老越快乐。美国最近的一项研究表明，年长者能够更好地控制和平衡情绪。有人认为，当我们年轻时，我们需要集中精力于生活的负面内容，从而了解这个世界中的潜在危险。然而当我们老去时，得到的教训已经足够，潜意识中了解到所剩时日不多——故而快乐对于我们而言显得更加重要。

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