From Geoff Levy
I have never read such balderdash before in New Scientist. Michael Ramscar and Harald Baayen believe that cognitive decline is not an inevitable part of growing older (22 March, p 28). But in order to build up their case, they are using the wrong tests and thus reaching the wrong conclusions.
I have played chess keenly for 80 years, and have watched my rating decline steadily with age until I dropped out of the bottom of club chess. I gave up playing because it clearly underlined my own cognitive decline. I can still analyse the possible development of a position, but I cannot compare the current analysis with an alternative I calculated five minutes earlier.
My aunt, a language teacher, could still converse with me in French, German or English in her old age but she could not remember the first chapter of a book, even after reading it half a dozen times.
Words go deep into the mind. Ramscar and Baayen should try testing cognitive ability with short-term memory and decision-making, not just with word games.
Andover, Hampshire, UK
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