[lbriner]

I think this might describe what you are referring to: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170206155947.h...

I heard somebody say that as you age, you rely more on memory to infer the correct decision whereas when you are young, memories are few and decisions based either on gut feel or the current context.

I guess that means that older people are more likely to do something they have already done because it is familiar and will work rather than do something that might be newer/better/faster but which would only be deduced by more abstract analysis?

[thanatropism]

There's still a lot of nature vs. nurture to that. A lot more experience = a lot more failures.

[oldmancoyote]

"A lot more experience = a lot more failures." YES. Your failures both form you and inform you at least as much as your successes.

[thanatropism]

They also make you more pessimistic. Maybe rightly so.

[oldmancoyote]

I look at that differently. My favorite epigram goes like this:

Very few worthwhile projects are ever successful on the first attempt. Failure is just another useful metric giving guidance on the re-formulation of the problem and the solution. Failure has nothing what-so-ever to do with guilt.

For the longest time as a young man I did not understand this. I though something was wrong with me because I failed so often.

[rc_hadoken]

Question: do you exercise? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3951958/ Let's not lump all older people into the same cognitive malaise. Disclaimer: I'm in my late 20s.

[oldmancoyote]

I do. I climbed stairs for 45 minutes four days a week for 2 decades. At 70 I was doing 1780 steps at a time. After my metatarsals complained, I began interval training on a stationary bike. During the summers I scramble up and down the Klamath Mountains looking for gold. It won't last forever, but I'm ok for now.