As your youth fades further into the past, you may start to fear growing older .
But research my colleague and I have recently published in the journal Intelligence shows there's also very good reason to be excited: for many of us, overall psychological functioning actually peaks between ages 55 and 60.
And knowing this highlights why people in this age range may be at their best for complex problem-solving and leadership in the workforce.
Different types of peaks
There's plenty of research showing humans reach their physical peak in their mid-twenties to early thirties.
A large body of research also shows that people's raw intellectual abilities – that is, their capacity to reason, remember and process information quickly – typically starts to decline from the mid-twentie