NIAGARA, Wis. — For years we have been under the impression that mental decline is a hallmark of aging, and an inescapable one at that. We have been told that our brain increases its capacity throughout adolescence, reaches its peak in our 20s, and then begins its gradual decline into our old age. Obviously, that doesn’t give us much to look forward to in our senior years.

Well, thinking has changed a lot on this subject — as thinking often does — as various topics are researched more thoroughly. We now know that our brains develop, plateau, and adapt in complex ways over their lifespans, with different skills rising and falling on their own schedules. Processing speed, memory, vocabulary, reasoning, and emotional intelligence all follow their own distinct arcs and can peak at different t

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