Spark

Test your cognitive abilities with these online games

New research suggests that cognitive facility doesn't decline in early adulthood, instead there are several peaks of different types of 'fluid intelligence' over our lives.
Laura Germine (Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard Staff Photographer)

This story first aired in April 2015. 

There's a longstanding belief that all of our cognitive abilities decline after early adulthood. Turns out that when it comes to determining the peak of our own cognitive abilities, it's a lot more complicated than we may have thought. New research suggests that some aspects of intelligence peak at different times over the course of our lives.

Laura Germine is a postdoctoral researcher in psychiatric genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Instead of bringing volunteers into the lab, she uses online games at TestMyBrain.org to run experiments.

You can also test your fluid intelligence here