title: The aging mind: potential and limits.
abstract: Research on the aging mind has moved from a simple growth vs decline view to a conception of a joint consideration of potential and limits. This development is illustrated by research on two categories of cognitive functioning: the cognitive mechanics and the cognitive pragmatics. The cognitive mechanics (comparable to fluid intelligence) are primarily determined by the evolution-based neurophysiological architecture of the mind, whereas the cognitive pragmatics (comparable to crystallized intelligence) primarily reflect the impact of culture. Testing-the-limits research on basic memory serves as a prototypical instantiation of the aging of cognitive mechanics; research on wisdom and the cognitive management of the self are prototypical examples of the aging of cognitive pragmatics. In the cognitive mechanics, as one would expect from a phenomenon which is largely genetically and biologically controlled, there is definite aging loss. Conversely, in the cognitive pragmatics, which is primarily culture-based, there is evidence for stability and positive change in persons who reach old age without specific brain pathology, and who live in favorable life circumstances. A model of successful aging, selective optimization with compensation, is presented to illustrate how individuals and societies might effectively manage the age-related shift toward a less positive balance between gains and losses and the associated dynamics between culture-based growth and biology-based decline in level of functioning.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Baltes
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008568:Memory; D008606:Mental Processes; D008960:Models, Psychological