[Baypiggies] Chompapps Position - from Issue 31

[Alec Flett]

If you're really interested in this stuff, I'm going to add a plug for
PositScience - http://www.positscience.com/ - they're a research based
company founded by some leading neuroscientists who are experts in "brain
plasticity" - only one measure of a brain's "age", but an interesting one at
that.

they actually sell software products targeted at folks 50+ designed to
increase brain plasticity in a few targeted areas. Think of it as "Brain
Age" (from the Nintendo DS) with actual science to back it up... (though I
suspect that just continuing to develop software into your 50s, 60s, 70s,
etc has a similar effect :))

Alec


On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 11:23 AM, RYAN DELUCCHI <bender at onsrc.com> wrote:

> A big +1.  I have nothing more to add.
>
>
> On Oct 29, 2009, at 10:59 AM, Peter Trudelle wrote:
>
>  Age discrimination is a very difficult subject, but there is no basis in
>> the study cited for any overall "brain level", let alone its declining with
>> age. Some abilities appeared to decline while others increased; in fact,
>> "abilities based on accumulated knowledge...increased until age 60".  This
>> last detail is misleading, as the study did not include anyone over 60, so
>> all they found was that it kept increasing. Programming ability is affected
>> by accumulated knowledge, and it is also much more complex than solving
>> puzzles, recalling words and story details and spotting patterns in letters
>> and symbols, so I'm not sure how applicable this study is to it.  BTW, the
>> last paragraph contains a logical fallacy; "virtually everyone agreeing" on
>> something does not make it true, as implied. I find it odd that anyone would
>> expect a recent graduate to outperform someone who may have spent their
>> entire life honing skills the graduate has barely started to develop.  FWIW,
>> the only 80 year old programmer I ever worked with could code rings around
>> the recent graduates.  And why not?  He had 50+ years of experience, we had
>> none.
>>
>> Peter
>>
>> On 10/29/2009 12:00 AM, resmith at runbox.com wrote:
>>
>>> Age discrimination is a difficult subject.  People work till they are in
>>> their 50's and 60's, and even 70's. And companies should treat them or
>>> consider them as candidates equally that entire time as they do a much
>>> younger person according to the law. But does their brain stay at the same
>>> level the entire time? This study says that it peaks at 22 and starts to
>>> dwindle at age 27:
>>>
>>> http://www.thirdage.com/brain-fitness/when-does-your-brain-function-peak
>>>
>>> Virtually everyone would agree that an 80 year old person would
>>>  underperform a 22 year old college graduate in a programming assignment.
>>> But at what point did the person 80 start to underperform the 22 year old?
>>> Was it at 70? 60? 50? 40? 30?   If the answer isn't 70, then there is a
>>> problem.
>>>
>>> Rob
>>>
>>>
>>>
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