A study led by campus researchers found that higher levels of education are linked to later ages of peak cognitive performance.
The study, published in PLOS ONE on Wednesday, was conducted by campus psychology professor Dr. Silvia Bunge, graduate psychology student Belén Guerra-Carrillo and General Assembly Space statistician Kiefer Katovich. According to Bunge, the group had long been aware of data suggesting that cognitive ability peaks around the age of 21 and questioned whether education levels affected this pattern.
The team was able to use anonymous data gathered from almost 200,000 subscribers to Lumosity, an online cognitive training program, whose users consented that their results could be used for scientific research. Lumosity became involved in the study through its Human Cognition Project, which aims to provide researchers with cognitive data from Lumosity’s training tools.