Wisdom of the Ages

Experts have long known that different mental skills grow stronger or weaker as we age, but a paper in Psychological Science sharpens our picture of just when and how this occurs. Using data from online tests of subjects ranging from age 10 to the early 70s, Joshua Hartshorne of MIT and Laura Germine of Massachusetts General Hospital charted the rise and fall of performance on measures of five abilities—and the ages at which they appear to peak. —Matt Huston