Brain ability declines after age 27

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., March 17 (UPI) -- Brain ability peaks at age 22 and mental powers begin to dwindle at age 27, Virginia University researchers found.

Professor Timothy Salthouse found reasoning, speed of thought and spatial visualization all decline beginning in the late 20s, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.

Therapies designed to stall or reverse the aging process may need to start much earlier than middle age, Salthouse said.

To test mental agility, Salthouse had 2,000 healthy people ages 18-60 solve puzzles, recall words and story details and spot patterns in letters and symbols.

The researchers found that the first marked decline was at age 27 in tests of brain speed, reasoning and visual puzzle-solving ability. However, memory stayed intact until age 37, while abilities based on accumulated knowledge, such as performance on tests of vocabulary or general information, increased until age 60.