It's known that older adults are more easily distracted. We think we've found a mechanism in the brain to explain this. The functional changes are detectable by middle age.

It's known that older adults are more easily distracted. We think we've found a mechanism in the brain to explain this and generated new insight into when in the lifespan these brain changes begin to occur.

Our fMRI scanning reveals that middle age represents the transition between the patterns observed in youth to that found in old age. The see-saw imbalance in the two frontal lobe areas is not as significant as in older adults, but the functional changes are detectable by middle age.

It's known that older adults are more easily distracted.

It's known that older adults are more easily distracted. We think we've found a mechanism in the brain to explain this and generated new insight into when in the lifespan these brain changes begin to occur.

Our fMRI scanning reveals that middle age represents the transition between the patterns observed in youth to that found in old age. The seesaw imbalance in the two frontal lobe areas is not as significant as in older adults, but the functional changes are detectable by middle age.