It is pretty well known that your brain is much more flexible during adolescence. Think about people who are born blind or deaf vs those who haven't but turn so later in life. Their brain structures responsible for this modality are configured quite differently. This is because your brain connections configure getting sensory/cognitive experience/stimulation. It is generally accepted that this ability to make these new connections degrades when you age. This is presumable the reason elderly have such difficulty learning to use modern devices, they just don't have the framework to handle it.
While it is not my intention to debunk your post (because some things are very true that can’t be disproven as they’ve been proven over), there arises some things, namely a question here with this very paragraph. It comes as someone who was very passionate and used to study neuroscience a bit years ago. From how it is written at least, it seems to conflict with things I know about the subject.
In what way are you saying/implying that the brain is more flexible during teenage years?
I ask that because in topics regarding talent that I have come across over years, there is always some variation of it. There is truth to it, but it is more taken out of context when it comes to talent imo, and how it is that thing one can always point at to justify things. It’s not completely accurate, but not off either. The reason is neuroplasticity, which is a main core (if not THE core) of neuroscience. It goes that the brain is plastic, and people and experiences are shaping them. The brain will always be growing and changing (infact some parts can shrink). This applies not only to teenagers, but to the elderly.
People thought for a long time (some people to this day do that don’t know basic neuroscience) that the brain stops growing and changing somewhere in the mid to late twenties and that everything is “set”, but that’s been disproven from this. Old dogs actually can learn new tricks, a lot just refuse not to. Some areas are also highly susceptible to change no matter age for the most part, namely ones with memory, emotion, and I believe imagination. People have a lot of time to do things well imo.
I don’t know when a drastic turning point for the plasticity would be, but your graph looks about accurate when it comes to 50s and 60s (from also speaking with old people and how things are ‘not the same’). I believe it also depends how active one keeps their brain much like how some older people are fit because they’ve exercised for a lot of life. If the brain isn’t being used, I.e. watching TV or twitch as opposed to doing intellectually stimulating things, probably more towards the 50s.
Also for old people, I thought there was a female Indian handgun marksman who recently passed in her 80s. She didn’t try to become a marksman until her late 60s or 70s if I am not mistaken, and won countless tournaments ahead of youngsters. Says something, a true hero honestly.
This connectivity seems to have some relation specific to spatial attention/memory, but I don't think this was examined closely in this study. My hypothesis is that pros are much better at switching attention (switching attention actually costs energy, people with autism for example fare much worse with this) and keeping track of multiple scenarios in their short term memory.
I’d say agree you are completely right here. I also believe the more accurate one is what neuroscientists call working memory. It’s probably more than just that too. I recently learned there are more kinds of memories than I thought from a friend who used to study cognitive psychology. There is autobiographical memory, conceptual memory, sensory memory, and forgot the few others he mentioned. Studying the brain/mind gives me a migraine honestly...