Peak Wit: How old is 'maximum intelligence'?

Being at the peak of intelligence is the dream and at the same time the doubt of many people, after all, is there any age when we reach our potential? A team of scientists in the country of Germany evaluated chess games for 125 years to answer that question. Follow this article and see what these researchers discovered.

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Is there an age to reach the peak of intelligence?

Scientists in Germany carried out this investigation by analyzing 24,000 chess games over 125 years. The objective was to assess the potential of a person's cognition and to know when it is reached.

Thus, the group analyzed professional chess games between the years 1890 to 2014 and recorded more than 1.6 million moves. From there, the researchers compared human movements with those of a computer.

So, as we age, it was possible to observe that our cognition changes. Therefore, with these numbers it was possible to tabulate the data and analyze the performance of chess players as they got older.

How old is “maximum intelligence”?

After analysis, the German research team concluded that we reach our peak of intelligence at approximately 35 years of age. Furthermore, after reaching the greatest potential, cognitive abilities begin to decline with age above 45 years.

Furthermore, it has been noted that our cognitive abilities are greater when compared to our ancestors. After all, player performance has steadily increased over the years.

While each person has a different type of intelligence, this entire set of skills can be developed. However, people who have reached the peak of intelligence have some characteristics in common:

• Adaptable: Adaptation is part of the evolution process, therefore, modifying behavior to deal with the most diverse situations is a characteristic of intelligent people.
• Curiosity: They have an innate curiosity and love to read, research and learn more about subjects that interest them.
• Limitations: Smart people know how far their knowledge goes, so they aren't afraid to say they don't know an answer.
• Open mind: These people are very receptive to criticism and suggestions to make decisions or improve some aspect of their work.