What price the President's age?
October 26th 2008 20:26
Signature Tune
From: Times on Line
Robert Epstein
When John McCain had a birthday recently, a television talk show host told the US presidential candidate that he had planned to get him a birthday cake but that the local fire chief had objected, saying: “That many candles?” Indeed, McCain, 72, is the oldest person in American history to run for the presidency and his opponent, Barack Obama, 46, once accused him of “losing his bearings”, a polite way of saying that McCain is becoming senile.
Just last week the Republican contender was caught by photographers looking unflatteringly off-balance as he headed the wrong way at the end of the final televised presidential debate. McCain, in turn, sometimes refers to Obama as “that young man with very little experience”.
In these days when leaders surround themselves with advisers, how much difference does age make in competent leadership? Does cognitive ability really decline as we age and, if so, by how much? While it's true that presidents are surrounded by advisers, there's no doubt that a leader at the forefront of the global political stage needs to possess intelligence, logic and the ability to reason, all of which are affected by age.
The American public is predictably divided on this issue. Obama appears to many to be short on experience and too young to assume such high office, even though John F. Kennedy was 43 when he became president. McCain is considered by others to be too old. After all, Ronald Reagan showed signs of Alzheimer's disease during his second term in office, when he was in his late seventies. Barely three years out of office, his cognitive impairment had become severe. But could it be that Obama, at 46, is also declining? When are we at our cognitive peak?
At 55, having been a research psychologist for 30 years, I decided to take a dispassionate look at these issues. The process proved to be painful in some respects, but when it comes to cognitive decline, knowing might also be the best defence.
Decline of learning and reason
First, let's consider a rather basic ability, learning; a critical skill for all of us, not least new presidents. Most middle-aged people are aware that their elderly parents are mystified by the latest DVD players, PDAs and iPods, and that the quickest way to solve a computer problem is to ask a teenager. Research shows unequivocally that our ability to learn new things peaks in our teens and declines steadily thereafter.
Our ability to acquire new knowledge declines in part because of a decline in most basic memory functions. The deterioration of memory is best illustrated by research on “incidental” memory-remembering, which occurs automatically and without effort, such as remembering the plot of a book. Mnemonic strategies (using patterns of letters or ideas to remember something) mastered as we get older can mask memory's decline; when we look at what is remembered accidentally, we get a clearer picture.
A simple but ingenious study in which researchers asked people emerging from a cinema to give details about the film they had just seen proves the point; teens performed best, while elderly people could barely remember the name of the movie.
As you age, it becomes increasingly difficult to remember things unless you make a concerted effort, a strain that US presidents clearly don't need. Research suggests that both Obama and McCain are well past their memory peaks, but Obama has the clear advantage.
The pattern is the same on classic intelligence tests, which measure basic reasoning ability, an important ability for a nation's leaders. You may have heard that “IQ” remains relatively stable throughout life, and indeed it does. That's because IQ is a quotient (Intelligence Quotient), a relative measure that expresses your test score in relation to test scores of people your own age. Your IQ stays roughly the same because you stay in roughly the same place with respect to your cohort; virtually everyone in your cohort is deteriorating at about the same rate. The peak of raw scores on intelligence tests occurs between ages 13 and 15.
What about brain size?
You may also have heard that brain size is a poor predictor of intelligence. That's true when you compare species and this also applies to genders (no one has figured out what human males use all that extra brain mass for). But several studies in the past decade or so show that when it comes to individuals, brain size is an excellent predictor of a variety of cognitive abilities. Does brain size follow the pattern we see with intelligence and memory?
Indeed it does. A recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study at the University of California San Diego, shows that brain size in human beings peaks at about 14 and declines gradually thereafter. Although at 70 the brain has shrunk, this doesn't mean that a 70-year-old has the intelligence of a child. It does mean, however, that although accrued knowledge and wisdom remain roughly intact, the various cognitive abilities, and especially the ability to acquire new knowledge, are in decline.
Although not central to the cognition issue, I would be remiss in failing to point out that most of our perceptual and motor capabilities also fit this disturbing pattern: our visual acuity, overall hearing ability, ability to discriminate speech sounds (important during delicate meetings of state), and so on. More to the point, reaction time - our ability to respond swiftly to sudden events, which is undoubtedly an important competency for leaders - also follows this pattern.
Now for the good news
Research suggests that we do become “wiser” as we get older, meaning that we can make especially good decisions in areas in which we have accumulated a great deal of specialised knowledge - as long as we don't need to acquire a great deal of new knowledge quickly, that is. In a static world, wisdom has great value, but in a rapidly changing one, research suggests that it's prudent for the old to make way for the young.
As for the presidential candidates, Obama has likely started having trouble finding his keys, and McCain is probably little more than a ghost of his former cognitive self.
Robert Epstein is a visiting scholar at the University of California San Diego and former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today magazine
Five things that influence how we vote for leaders
1. Attractiveness According to the results of a study published in the European Journal of Political Research earlier this year, attractive constituency candidates receive more votes, especially if standing against someone less good-looking. However, those with baby-faced good looks are not going to cut it with the voters. Researchers from Brandais University, near Boston, showed that candidates with typical baby-faced features - rounder faces, larger eyes, smaller noses, higher foreheads, and smaller chins - are more likely to lose elections. When volunteers were shown images of Ronald Reagan and John F.Kennedy that had been morphed to increase babyfacedness the former US presidents were judged to be weaker and less clever.
2. Body language New research from Poland, published this year, has explored the non-verbal cues projected by politicians and how they may affect our vote. Volunteers were shown photographs of American and European politicians in various postures. In support of other general studies on body language, the research found that certain poses reinforce the image of a politician and make them look confident. For example, sitting in a relaxed posture, with one foot resting on the other knee, and standing tall with hands in pockets, are good postures for a political candidate. Holding a hand in front of the mouth makes a politician look untrustworthy.
3. Height Good things apparently don't come in small packages. A US study found a trend in increased height for ten American presidents from 1948-96.
4. Hair Or rather, a lack of it, may affect the outcome of an election. Scientists from the University of Arizona found that governors and members of Congress are much more likely to have a fuller head of hair than would be expected of men of their age. Interestingly, America has not had a bald president since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s and Britain hasn't had a bald prime minister since Winston Churchill.
5. Voice The voice of a politician can be an important factor in his or her campaign. In a study carried out at Saint Anselm College, New Hampshire, subjects rated hypothetical political candidates after seeing their photographs and listening to their voices. They found that although appearance played a more significant role in making an impression, a voice that was too loud, too quiet, high-pitched, or thin reduced the ratings of a highly attractive candidate. “Faster speech rate and a relative lack of pauses and repetitions, and increased movement of the voice are associated with higher ratings on competence and dominance,” the study leaders said.
LEONORA WEIL
Slowing the decline
So far, randomised controlled studies suggest that some drugs and compounds that were thought to be promising fail to slow the decline in cognitive ability, among them: vitamin B, painkillers and anti- inflammatories such as naproxen, aspirin and celecoxib (Celebrex); raloxifene, an oestrogen-related compound; and idebenone, an antioxidant in the quinine family. Interesting but not entirely persuasive studies suggest that cognitive deterioration might be slowed by:
Using drugs to restore sleep in abnormal sleepers.
Eating lots of veggies, but not lots of fruits, for reasons unknown.
Long-term consumption of betacarotene, which also can, alas, cause yellowing of hands and feet.
Daily consumption of ginkgo biloba, at least in a small group of people suffering from mild multiple sclerosis.
Drinking more than two cups of coffee a day, at least for women.
Consuming fish or omega-3 supplements, at least for people suffering from mild Alzheimer's disease.
Getting lots of vigorous exercise, although the cognitive benefits shown in this 2008 study were quite small.
Computer-based products such as Nintendo's Brain Age: some research shows that training specific cognitive skills can produce gains that last years.
| 52 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Lester Caudill
Round Politics
Comment by katyzzz
Photography Tips
MS Paint Art
I am not impressed by Obama's suitablility, he just doesn't seem to have it, but I think he'll get in by default, as everyone is so fed up with the way this financial crisis was allowed to happen and how it is being handled now, promises, promises, yet to be fulfilled, the whole thing is one disastrous mess.
The free market has been too free, a free ride for al those greedy b...... and nothing is happening to reign it all in.