{"id":807,"date":"2021-09-09T02:57:10","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T02:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/?p=807"},"modified":"2021-10-11T15:41:03","modified_gmt":"2021-10-11T15:41:03","slug":"some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Cognitive Functions Improve With Age: Study"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It\u2019s generally thought that cognitive functions such as attention, reasoning, and executive function decline with age. New findings, however, are quick to challenge this belief, suggesting that some of these functions can actually improve with age, paired with brain training.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The observational study, published in the journal <\/span>Nature Human Behavior<\/span><\/i>, saw an improvement rather than a decline in cognitive functions among older adults across domains.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cognitive functioning includes executive functions such as working memory, flexible thinking, and self-control.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Study Details<\/b><\/p>\n

The study involved 702 participants ages 58 to 98, testing them for cognitive functions namely alerting, orienting, and executive inhibition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Humans, according to the researchers, use these functions differently. When driving, alerting leads to better preparedness, orienting shifts attention to an unexpected movement like a pedestrian, while executive function improves focus on driving amid distractions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team tested the participants\u2019 functioning using the computer-based Attention Network Test (ANT), which analyzed how well the subjects responded to the target stimulus flashed on the computer. The results were rather surprising: only the subjects\u2019 alerting abilities declined with age, while their orienting and executive inhibition actually improved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers dubbed the results \u201camazing and have important consequences for how we should view aging.\u201d The large study indicated that components of these cognitive functions actually get better with age likely because they are practiced throughout life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Retrieval and How to Improve Learning\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Other recent findings also challenge common and traditionally established beliefs and assumptions about brain and cognitive functioning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recent work, for instance, has shown that retrieval is important for durable and long-term learning. Every time we retrieve a memory, it becomes more accessible in the future, helping create mental representations of complex ideas (a type of deep learning).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Retrieval processes play a central role in learning. Retrieval-based learning incites the development of new learning strategies based on retrieval practice. According to mounting research, though, retrieval practice is actually underappreciated as a learning technique.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, retrieval isn\u2019t typically deemed important in the learning process; many learners don\u2019t practice it often or effectively at all. Conversely, repetitive reading — the most popular learning technique among college students — causes very limited levels of learning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Retrieval can take place in a number of ways, and various activities may be turned into retrieval-based learning methods. Key is spending time actively retrieving when attempting to learn something new.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Final Note: Practice Is Key<\/b><\/p>\n

Going back to cognitive functioning, is it possible to train them with practice? Of course, noted the researchers. You may use apps or online programs, though it remains unclear to what extent the improvements are beyond structured programs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One thing is for certain: There\u2019s a great potential to improve cognitive functions in aging via targeted, dedicated, and passionate practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep posted for more brain enhancement news, scientific findings, and updated on this blog.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s generally thought that cognitive functions such as attention, reasoning, and executive function decline with age. New findings, however, are quick to challenge this belief, suggesting that some of these functions can actually improve with age, paired with brain training.\u00a0 The observational study, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, saw an improvement rather than…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSome Cognitive Functions Improve With Age: Study - LumUltra<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some Cognitive Functions Improve With Age: Study - LumUltra\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s generally thought that cognitive functions such as attention, reasoning, and executive function decline with age. New findings, however, are quick to challenge this belief, suggesting that some of these functions can actually improve with age, paired with brain training.\u00a0 The observational study, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, saw an improvement rather than...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"LumUltra\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-09T02:57:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-10-11T15:41:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pexels-alena-darmel-7322392.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"959\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"suptadmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"suptadmin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"suptadmin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/71824b66236cc121b9c989e3c37bc632\"},\"headline\":\"Some Cognitive Functions Improve With Age: Study\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-09T02:57:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-11T15:41:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/\"},\"wordCount\":477,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/\",\"name\":\"Some Cognitive Functions Improve With Age: Study - LumUltra\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-09T02:57:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-10-11T15:41:03+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Some Cognitive Functions Improve With Age: Study\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"LumUltra\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"LumUltra\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/lum-logo-2026.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/lum-logo-2026.webp\",\"width\":600,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"LumUltra\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/71824b66236cc121b9c989e3c37bc632\",\"name\":\"suptadmin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/005770b00d007b86dfc29c547c9bcb96bf0fe20a13246c112079191ad5852923?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/005770b00d007b86dfc29c547c9bcb96bf0fe20a13246c112079191ad5852923?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"suptadmin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Some Cognitive Functions Improve With Age: Study - LumUltra","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Some Cognitive Functions Improve With Age: Study - LumUltra","og_description":"It\u2019s generally thought that cognitive functions such as attention, reasoning, and executive function decline with age. New findings, however, are quick to challenge this belief, suggesting that some of these functions can actually improve with age, paired with brain training.\u00a0 The observational study, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, saw an improvement rather than...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/","og_site_name":"LumUltra","article_published_time":"2021-09-09T02:57:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-10-11T15:41:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":959,"url":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/pexels-alena-darmel-7322392.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"suptadmin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"suptadmin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/"},"author":{"name":"suptadmin","@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/71824b66236cc121b9c989e3c37bc632"},"headline":"Some Cognitive Functions Improve With Age: Study","datePublished":"2021-09-09T02:57:10+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-11T15:41:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/"},"wordCount":477,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Articles"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/","name":"Some Cognitive Functions Improve With Age: Study - LumUltra","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-09-09T02:57:10+00:00","dateModified":"2021-10-11T15:41:03+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/some-cognitive-functions-improve-with-age-study\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Some Cognitive Functions Improve With Age: Study"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/","name":"LumUltra","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"LumUltra","url":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/lum-logo-2026.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/lum-logo-2026.webp","width":600,"height":100,"caption":"LumUltra"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/71824b66236cc121b9c989e3c37bc632","name":"suptadmin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/005770b00d007b86dfc29c547c9bcb96bf0fe20a13246c112079191ad5852923?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/005770b00d007b86dfc29c547c9bcb96bf0fe20a13246c112079191ad5852923?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"suptadmin"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":834,"href":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807\/revisions\/834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lumultra.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}