In the past two years, it has been revealed that large-scale Internet companies have been laying off employees in batches. Among them, the development posts are the hardest hit areas, and the vast majority of the developers who have been dismissed are programmers over 35 years old.
For many people, 35 is a handicap. There are many answers to why programmers after 35 are not very popular. In fact, a very practical problem is that those young people who were once in their prime may not be able to work as well as the new generation after the age of 35.
Recently, researchers from the University of Munich and their collaborators analyzed the data of 24000 professional games played by 4294 professional chess players from 1890 to 2014, and found that the cognitive function of human brain will reach its peak at the age of 35, and then decline all the way, and the decline rate after the age of 45 is obviously faster and faster.
Not only that, the researchers also found that human cognitive ability is increasing. For example, for people born in the 1870s, the cognitive ability of their peers born in the 1970s is about 8% higher.
The related research paper, entitled "life cycle patterns of cognitive performance over the long run", was published in the Journal of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAs) on October 19.
As we all know, human cognitive ability will become stronger with the growth of time in the early life, and gradually weaken in the late life. So, when did the cognitive function of human brain begin to weaken?
In the past century, this problem has been puzzling neuroscience scholars, because it is very difficult to objectively and dynamically evaluate human cognitive ability. Therefore, previous studies on the relationship between human cognitive performance and age are relatively few, and the evidence is very limited.
In order to objectively and dynamically evaluate the relationship between human cognitive ability and age, the researchers used the data of more than 24000 chess games in the 125 years from 1890 to 2014, and the data of 1.6 million chess games made by 4294 participants to analyze. By comparing the actions of chess players and professional chess computer actions, we can get the data of chess players' cognitive ability.
As for why chess was chosen, the researchers said, "in our empirical model, we rely on professional chess data because it is typical evidence of human brain activity. At the same time, we have stored all the data of the world chess competition in the past 125 years in our database. If we compare a person's action with that of the current powerful computer, we can get a very objective cognitive score. "
In the process of evaluating the players' cognitive ability, the researchers only selected the actions between step 10 and step 100 in each game to exclude the influence of the chess score. At the same time, researchers also ruled out 3422 players who played less than five games.
The results show that human cognitive ability changes hump shaped in the life cycle. It grows rapidly between 0-20 years old, grows slowly between 20-35 years old, declines slowly between 35-45 years old, and declines rapidly after 45 years old.
At the same time, the researchers also found that for later born chess players, their cognitive performance was significantly higher than that of those born in 1870. For example, in the 1870s, the match rate between the actions of chess players and those of computers was about 44%. In the 1960s, the match rate between the actions of chess players and those of computers had reached 50%. In the 1990s, the match rate between the actions of chess players and those of computers even exceeded 55%.
However, by the end of the 20th century, the cognitive ability of chess players seems to be developing faster and faster. In this regard, the researchers think, "why has people's cognitive level increased significantly in recent years? This may be related to the software accessibility of various chess training institutions in recent years. Our growth environment is closely related to the development of cognitive ability, and the development of science and technology also affects the development of our cognitive level. Therefore, the first mock exam does not represent the future.
At the same time, the researchers said: "our results do not question the value of experience, but the opposite is true. We know that with the emergence of computer and chess programs, the preparation and practice of chess have undergone tremendous changes. Therefore, our data show that people's current growth conditions, including the rapid development of digital technology, will affect the development of their cognitive ability. "
In a word, based on the analysis and evaluation of a large number of chess players' long-term cognitive ability, the researchers established a trend model of human cognitive ability with age. With the passage of time, the cognitive ability of human life cycle changes like a hump. Moreover, human cognitive ability has increased over time in the past 125 years.
