Memory trouble starts at 50, says Belgian study

Forgetting someone’s name is common as we get older, but a study by the University of Liège suggests that even the names of common objects don’t come to us as quickly after the age of 50, writes Fox News’s Rachael Rettner. In the study, people aged 25 to 90 were asked to name objects shown in pictures. Researchers tested how long it took them to respond and whether they identified the objects correctly. People in their 50s took about half a second longer to name the objects than those in their 20s and 30s – though when the 50-somethings did identify the objects, they were just as accurate as younger people. However, those in their 60s and 70s were both slower to name the objects and more likely to get it wrong. “We don’t yet know why this happens – it may indicate changes in our language abilities only or it may be caused by physical factors that have nothing to do with language,” said researcher Clémence Verhaegen of the University of Liège. “More studies are needed to reveal what is really going on.” The study was published on Wednesday in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.