Ep 1. Battle of the Ages

In Brain Games season 3 episode 1, titled "Battle of the Ages," viewers are taken on a journey through the brain's aging process. The episode explores the differences in cognitive ability between younger and older generations using a series of brain games and experiments.

Host Jason Silva delves into the science behind aging, discussing how the brain changes as we get older and how it affects our everyday lives. He introduces us to a plethora of interesting individuals, young and old, who participate in these experiments and games. The episode begins with a simple experiment to showcase reaction time, a cognitive ability that declines with age. Viewers watch as a 20-year-old and a 70-year-old are both asked to press a button as quickly as possible after hearing a sound. It's clear that the 20-year-old is much quicker to react, but what's surprising is that the older participant is not slow by much.

It's explained that as we age, our brains don't necessarily get slower, but they do become less efficient at processing information. The episode dives deeper into this concept by having participants complete tasks in which they must remember a sequence of numbers or discern the meaning of an ambiguous image. Jason Silva teases viewers with the question of whether players in their 70s or their 20s will perform better in these games.

Meanwhile, a different type of experiment is conducted with a group of people of varying ages, all of whom are asked to gauge their perception of time. The participants are shown an image that only appears on the screen for a fraction of a second and are asked to say how long they think it lasted. The results are surprising, with a vast difference in perception between the younger and older participants: the former believe the image was present for a much shorter time than the latter.

Jason Silva then explains to the audience that our brains only perceive time accurately when we are actively engaged in something stimulating. As we age, we tend to fall into routine and engage in repetitive tasks, which causes our perception of time to speed up.

Throughout the episode, the show demonstrates that although aging inevitably affects cognitive ability, there are ways to slow down the process. A group of elderly participants are given a group crossword puzzle to complete, and their results are compared to those achieved by a group of younger people. It's shown that the older group performs almost on par with the younger group, implying that mental stimulation helps slow the cognitive decline in seniors.

Moreover, it shows that exercise also helps to slow down the decline: Jason Silva reveals a study that discovered that older adults who spent a year exercising, whether it be walking, cycling, or dancing, showed improvement in their cognitive abilities. In contrast, the control group, whose members only performed stretches and other non-stimulating activities, demonstrated a decline in mental capability.

The episode concludes on a positive note with hopes that instruction, as well as lifestyle changes, could help to stall the inevitable decline in cognitive ability as we grow older. "Battle of the Ages" is an insightful and educational episode of Brain Games that delivers the message that our brains can benefit from continued stimulation, and age is just a number.