Giles Gignac, researcher, has good news about ageing: “traits we measured reach their peak much later in life”

As we get on in years, we often start to long for our youth, when our bodies were capable of more athletic feats as well as having fewer wrinkles and less gray hair. While our bodies may be at the top of their game between our mid-twenties and early thirties, our brains are just getting going.

According to research by Gilles Gignac from the University of Western Australia and Marcin Zajenkowski from the University of Warsaw, our cognitive and personality traits peak between the ages of 55 and 60. Some of them even continue to improve well into later life.

Good news for those worried about ageing

Gignac explained his and Zajenkowski’s study and its findings in an article in The Conversation. “We focused on well-established psychological traits beyond reasoning ability that can be measured accurately, represent enduring characteristics rather than temporary states, have well-documented age trajectories, and are known to predict real-world performance,” he explained.

They looked at 16 psychological dimensions which they identified as meeting their criteria. They measured core cognitive abilities like “reasoning, memory span, processing speed, knowledge and emotional intelligence” and “the so-called ‘big five’ personality traits – extraversion, emotional stability, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and agreeableness.”

After compiling data from existing large-scale studies they standardized it to create a common scale to make direct comparisons. The researchers then mapped the evolution of each trait across a people’s lifespans.

“Overall mental functioning peaked between ages 55 and 60,” says Gignac. However, they found that emotional stability continues to improve beyond that age range, peaking at age 75. “Less commonly discussed dimensions, such as moral reasoning, also appear to peak in older adulthood,” he added.

Around age 65 though, overall mental functioning begins to decline. “That decline became more pronounced after age 75, suggesting that later-life reductions in functioning can accelerate once they begin,” he states.

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