The Wisdom Paradox by Elkhonon Goldberg

Author:Elkhonon Goldberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2010-03-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Frontal Lobes and the Aging Mind

It may be a good thing that the editor is more than twenty years younger than our imaginary author, since unfortunately, as we already know, the frontal lobes are more susceptible to the effects of aging than most other parts of the brain. But the frontal lobes’ susceptibility to decay does not automatically mean that prescriptive wisdom, or prescriptive expertise, disappears with age. Nor does it mean that the frontal lobes decay uniformly in everybody. Joaquin Fuster proposed that the prefrontal cortex contains the generic representations of schemes of actions effective across whole ranges of situations and problems. He refers to them as semantic executive memory and memory for concepts of actions. Since these memories may differ in their generality, they are hierarchically organized. Like other generic memories, executive generic memories are relatively invulnerable to the effects of brain damage. This enables an aging corporate CEO or an aging political leader to remain an effective executive, despite some cognitive decline in the ability to engage in de novo mental computations. (Think of Winston Churchill with his attention drifting but his strategic grasp unassailable.)

Those who are endowed with “executive intelligence” have a considerable leg up in finding the optimal course of action in genuinely novel situations. Consequently, as they move through life, they are likely to accumulate a large “neural library” of “generic executive memories,” the memories of past successful solutions to thorny problems, in the form of attractors residing, completely or in part, within the frontal lobes. Their neural library will be more extensive than that of most people. As a result, they are particularly likely to find effective “executive” solutions for seemingly new thorny situations by way of honing in on their similarities with some of the old, previously solved problems through rapid executive pattern recognition. While not identical, “emotional intelligence” and “executive intelligence” are closely interrelated. To the extent that emotional intelligence also has a distinct seat in the brain, the frontal lobes are that seat. And the executive memories stored within the frontal lobes are informed by emotional intelligence.

Like every other aspect of aging, the rate of frontal-lobe aging is subject to individual differences. A greater functional longevity of the frontal lobes is probably an important key to a sound mind in advanced age. Those who preserve a good working condition of their frontal lobes are the ones with the best chance of remaining clear-minded well into old age. Indeed, it has been shown that high-functioning elderly individuals have more physiologically active frontal lobes.

Even when it happens, the decay of the frontal lobes in aging is likely to affect mostly the ability to find “executive” solutions for genuinely novel situations. But what is novel and what is familiar also varies from person to person. Since most new situations resonate to some degree with previous experiences, people who have accumulated a vast neural library of well-entrenched generic executive memories are likely to remain effective problem-solvers even despite this decay, at least for some time.

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