Staying Sharp: The Surprising Power of the Aging Brain

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If such a change occurs, says psychologist Robert Levenson, also at U.C. Berkeley, it may be shaped in part by evolutionary forces, offering advantages for the whole species. Human beings' comparatively long life spans and extended families are very good things, but keeping big broods healthy and well behaved over the decades takes more than the energy of young parents. It takes the cool heads and wise counsel of the family graybeards too. "Evolution isn't just about reproduction," Levenson says. "When you get into your 40s and 50s, you're caretaking, looking after your children, grandchildren, even the people who work for you. There's an advantage to having a more relativistic mind."

It's that talent for reflective thinking that explains the role older adults have always played in the human culture. It's not for nothing that history's firebrands and ideologues are typically young, while its judges and peacemakers and great theologians tend to be older. Not everyone achieves the sharp thought and serene mien that can come with age. But for those who do, the later years can be the best years they have ever had.

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