Brains of elderly slow because they know so much

Telegragh (UK) ^ | 1-20-2014 | Sarah Knapton

[Sir Napsalot]

The brains of older people only appear to slow down because they have so much information to compute, much like a full-up hard drive, scientists believe.

Older people do not decline mentally with age, it just takes them longer to recall facts because they have more information in their brains, scientists believe.

Much like a computer struggles as the hard drive gets full up, so to (sic) do humans take longer to access information, it has been suggested.

Researchers say this slowing down it is not the same as cognitive decline.

“The human brain works slower in old age,” said Dr. Michael Ramscar, “but only because we have stored more information over time

“The brains of older people do not get weak. On the contrary, they simply know more.”

A team at Tübingen University in Germany programmed a computer to read a certain amount each day and learn new words and commands.

When the researchers let a computer “read” only so much, its performance on cognitive tests resembled that of a young adult.

But if the same computer was exposed to the experiences we might encounter over a lifetime – with reading simulated over decades – its performance now looked like that of an older adult.

Often it was slower, but not because its processing capacity had declined. Rather, increased “experience” had caused the computer’s database to grow, giving it more data to process – which takes time.

[GOP Poet]

:)

[Pearls Before Swine]

Sherlock Holmes had an encyclopedic memory for things that were of interest to him and his work. But, Watson noted, he was studiously ignorant of many other things that were to him irrelevant. Holmes thought of the mind as a library with only so much capacity, which he wished to reserve for items of meaning.

On a lower level, Kelly of “Married With Children” had limited memory capacity. Her brother Bud noted that when she was full, any additional added fact meant that one would fall out... she’d forget something to compensate. Like “who scored four touchdowns in a Polk High football game.” FIFO.

[no-to-illegals]

four touchdowns

I surrender!

[jazusamo]

Ah, so that explains why I can’t...What?

[Hot Tabasco]

That’s been my theory all along.....Our brains aren’t limitless in their memory banks so it’s natural that short term memory starts forgetting things due to limited storage capacity..........

[ThomasThomas]

**I can remember where I put my keys... in 1975.**

But do you know where they are now?

[no-to-illegals]

Overtime? Heck ... why even risk it?

[M Kehoe]

No wonder my head looks like Barry Bonds head after 10 yrs of steroid use.

I gotta delete some stuff tomorrow...

5.56mm

[Zeneta]

Who am I? Why am I here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKpX-5jQjQ0

[Zeneta]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKpX-5jQjQ0

[GreyFriar]

Will emptying our cache work? Or only our bank account?

[Amendment10]

I'm not saying that they're wrong, but I'm skeptical about the conclusion of these scientists.

And if by "slow" scientists are referring to memory issues, don't scientists compare their notes?

FR: Study: Elderly Memory Loss Due to Lack of Deep Sleep

[Tijeras_Slim]

But do you know where they are now?

Next to my glasses, wherever they are.

[Dr. Sivana]

C:>\Delete E:\TV_Commercials\197*.AVI

?!ILLEGAL IOT
CANNOT DELETE E:\TV_Commercials\197*.AVI,
FILE(S) IN USE

C:\>

Looks like I’m out of luck.

[basil]

Sometimes my problem is that I can recite a poem I memorized in the 7th grade, but can’t remember what I had for lunch today.

[onyx]

Amen!
This has been my theory and claim for years.

[jmacusa]

I’ll say this much, my wife’s 93 year old mother lives with us. “Mama’’ is a wonderful woman and her mind is sharp as a tack. She used to be an account with Sears. She balances her own checkbook to the exact penny. She does cross word puzzles and is a Suduku champ. And she knows what night the garbage goes out. I’m fifty=seven freakin’ years old and for the life of me I still don’t know what freakin’ night the bloody garbage goes out.

[cripplecreek]

Experience creates a shortcut or workaround for a lot of situations.

I saw a show a while back with older people competing with 20 somethings. One of the tests was a room with 3 light switches connected to 3 light bulbs that were out of sight in another room. They had to figure out which bulb went with which switch without being able to see the bulbs and switches at the same time.

The 20 somethings floundered and the older people nailed it because they did exactly what I would have done. The older people turned on 2 of 3 switches then turned one back off. When they went into the other room they knew that the bulb that was still lit belonged to the switch that was still on. Then they would feel the bulb and know which bulb had recently been on.

[Mr. K]

I think the brain acts like a computer in other ways too.

For example did you ever stand over someone shoulder while they are operating the computer and mouse and YOU can see where to point and click but it takes them along time to find what is so obvious to you

And if you switch places its the same for them watching you..

I think it shows the brain is multi-tasking by time slicings- and when you are only WATCHING you are doing less than the person sitting down trying to operat all 10 fingers and read and write at the same time...