It is widely known that the speed of cognitive processes in our brain begins to slow down in our youth, passing its peak around the age of 20. Indeed, many people can recall that in their 20s, various tasks seemed to be thought about faster than in more mature years. Various scientific studies also attest to this.

Scientists from the University of Heidelberg (Germany) do not deny this, but after conducting their own study, they found a new cause of cognitive slowing, not related to the speed of the brain. They presented their findings in the journal Nature Human Behavior. The study involved more than 1.2 million people.

The experiment was conducted online. In the task of volunteers was to classify certain words and images that appeared on the screen, by pressing the “right” keys on the keyboard. And what did the researchers see? That this response time was indeed slower in subjects over the age of 20 compared to younger participants.

However, according to experts, this was hardly due to the slowing down of their cognitive processes. By using mathematical models (Bayesian hierarchical modeling), the scientists concluded that such a phenomenon lies beyond the speed of the brain and can be associated with other factors. First of all, with the fact that with age people who have gained certain life experience become more cautious and in principle slower to make certain decisions.

And also with age a person’s physical reflexes slow down, so he or she may react slower to something (for example, pressing buttons on a keyboard) for purely physiological reasons. But after the age of 60, cognitive processes in the brain really start to slow down. Although in different people it happens in different ways: someone has a degree of “mental” speed is still very high, someone – quite low.

The reasons for this are still unknown to scientists – they hope to get an answer to this question in future studies. In addition, the work of experts has shown that the speed of the brain is at about the same level in very different groups of people. It depends little on gender, race or level of education. Scientists, however, emphasize that for the final conclusions need, as usual, additional research and study of the speed of response during the execution of other tasks by the subjects

The post The speed of cognitive processes appeared to be unchanged up to the age of 60 years appeared first on Dam-Siantonio.

Earlier studies have shown that classical music can have a positive effect on people’s ability to process conflicting information. Neuroscientists believe that listening to it is useful in alleviating various neuropsychological disorders. Despite this, the issue remains poorly understood. Scientists from Monash University (Australia) conducted their own study on this issue, the results of which were published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience.

The work involved 67 students who were asked to take two different tests – color and verbal. This was done under different conditions – with classical music playing in the background, with white noise and in silence. The interval between the tests was several days.

Live music helped analgesics in spinal rehabilitation
Researchers from Israel and the USA have shown that music therapy can eliminate postoperative pain in patients with spinal disorders more effectively than medications.

After the tests, scientists analyzed the results of cognitive skills during the tests. It turned out that neither music nor white noise increased the level of cognitive abilities of the participants, and the latter, like other stressors, even worsened it. At least, this applied to the processing of contradictory stimuli. The analysis of the literature showed that classical music can influence the improvement of some cognitive abilities not related to the processing of contradictory information, but definitely not white noise

The post Classical music and white noise did not improve cognitive performance appeared first on Dam-Siantonio.