Those grim “over the hill” party favors are often deployed ironically by those who want to razz their friends or partners when they turn 30 or 40. But it may be more honest than we care to admit: A new study suggests humans’ cognitive speed peaks at age 24, and that it’s a steady downhill descent from there. The study is limited by the fact that it only focused on video game players. But in analyzing a dataset of over 3,000 StarCraft 2 players between the ages of 16 and 44, researchers determined that in-game response times, or cognitive speed, peaked in players at 24 years of age.
StarCraft 2 is a cutthroat, ultra-competitive intergalactic computer game that requires skill and speed. Highly skilled players can compete against each other in tournaments for big cash prizes. For researchers, the game is a boon of data, because each game is stored ...
