Experience, Not Decline

[ysabetwordsmith]

 Older brains may respond slower not because they are declining but because they have a a much larger database to search.  This reveals severe flaws in the cognitive testing array.  I would like to see a test for accuracy added, because a larger database should -- if healthy -- do a better job of solving problems than a smaller one.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

Umm.. your theory that increased data would lead to increased accuracy is flawed... not all data is the same, there's an increased amount of junk data too.

Actually, all things being equal, junk data accumulates at a greater rate than useful. There's several statistical models that cover this, but the TL:DR version is that there's more ways to be wrong than right, so junk data happens with much greater frequency, and the more data you have, the more likely it is to be 'noise'.

This is why filtering is very important..and honestly, the human brain is a bit dodgy in that regard.. but then we're using neolithic hardware. It's bit like trying to run google, with an index that's a stack of 8x4 card stock and a sharpie.

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

It must be working somehow because on average, experience improves performance. I'm a much better writer than I was 20 years ago, and part of that is because I know more things -- that means they can stick together in my head to form story cores.

Re: Well ...

[mount_oregano]

Maybe it works because some questions have many right answers, so we can accumulate a fair amount of good data.

I would not dis Neolithic people. They survived tough challenges with exceptional success.

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Maybe it works because some questions have many right answers, so we can accumulate a fair amount of good data. <<

Also possibly true.

>> I would not dis Neolithic people. They survived tough challenges with exceptional success. <<

*laugh* Don't dis Neolithic people until after you have tried cave painting, flint knapping, clay cleaning, hide tanning, and making a fire by hand. I've done all of those things, and they require considerable skill and patience.

[bibliofile]

Thick sharpie or thing sharpie?

(....and here I thought it was just that we still haven't figured out how to implement an upgrade from the default bubble sort.)

[(Anonymous)]

I think Jared Dismond had a chapter in one of his books (_The World Until Yesterday_) about how older people are references and teachers, while younger people are the innovaters and physical workers.

[(Anonymous)]

And you could also loook at cognitive studies comparing monolingual and multilingual folks.

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

You want to talk slowdown:

"Word for concept not found in English. Searching ALL databases ..."

[gatheringrivers]

Oooooo so that's more of an organizational problem. Fascinating!