We can learn at any age.

Some adults may be worried that they are ‘too old to learn’. It is true that our ability to rote learn facts and details may deteriorate as we get older. On the other hand, older adults have considerable life experience which they can build on to develop new knowledge and skills.

As can be seen from the graph, our crystallised intelligence increases as we get older. This is the intelligence that builds connections from life experiences and uses this to analyse and understand new information and ideas. ‘Fluid’ intelligence does diminish with age - this is the intelligence that rote remembers facts, names, dates etc, and makes incisive leaps - such as in mathematics. However, this can be compensated for with our ‘crystallised intelligence’