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cjensen

We were all young once. We all made hilariously incorrect assertions.

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Yeah, and this is the place to read them all!

This should be comment of the month.

https://twitter.com/shit_hn_says

Every time one finds themselves there, it is cause for a smile and a moment of reflection.

freaking hilarious!

thanks.

Is it an incorrect assertion?

http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchObject.action?uri=info%3...

Taken literally, it seems to be true. Your reaction time slows down after 24, as the data shows.

Except we all know this isn't what he meant.

Though I guess we always need the "technically corrrct" comment ;)

Of course he wasn't talking about reaction time, but it shows an interesting trend. If reaction time slows down, then what else slows down with it? The only reason we accept the reaction time slowdown is because it's easy to measure. What about other attributes which are harder to measure, like general intelligence?

It just seems strange that everyone is saying his assertion is unquestionably false when, if anything, the evidence seems to suggest the opposite.

intelligence does drop as you age, up to around 10pts by the time you're 40.

knowledge however, increases.

Yeah, that's true. Knowledge is more important than raw intelligence, and you can do more with it.

And don't forget experience, skill, wisdom. You could call those all "knowledge" if you want, but they have more specific connotations than just "knowin' stuff".

I don't disagree that being young confers special advantages and powers. Young people can more easily blunder up a wonderful mistake because they have less to lose. That's important. But that's not the only way!

It's well accepted that the perception of time changes with age.

Good thing that the fetchobject action was performed by a computer then, eh? :)

Reaction doesn't matter so much if your reactions aren't correct.

That's the whole story of HFT.

FWIW, that particular study was pure absurdity: The only demonstrated facet of the analysis was that when you compared players of equal standings, younger players relied more upon speed. As reasonable of a conclusion was that "older" players simply made smarter moves rather than faster moves. Absolutely nothing was demonstrated about reaction time.

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