You know what I hate? I hate getting those “you are getting older” emails and jokes.  I already know it, so don’t rub it in. And they’re not funny anyway.That having been said, us baby boomers are interested in the science around aging -- perhaps in hopes of finding a cure!

Most of us tend to have slower reaction times as we age. We experience forgetfulness and we wonder why our muscles aren't as strong as they once were. But here is some good news.

Spatial attention skills do not seem to decline with age. Why? That part of the brain doesn't age like the rest of the human body does. Adults who are as old as 95 appear to have the same responses for spatial attention tasks as do older teenagers. That’s good right?

Spatial attention, which involves touch, sight and sound, is the ability to focus on specific stimuli in our visual environment. Such skills are used for many areas of life, including walking, picking up things and driving.

For example, when we drive a car, we are bombarded with stimuli -- from the passing scenery to the pedestrian crossing the street at the next intersection. Spatial attention is when the brain identifies the most important part of the scene and ignores the meaningless information. Which begs the question: Then why all those bad older drivers?!

You know what I hate? I hate getting those “you are getting older” emails and jokes.  I already know it so don’t rub it in.  And they’re not funny ...

Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images
Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Getty Images
loading...

anyway.

More From News Talk KIT