![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ksmithIn this week's New Scientist is a review of a book entitled Monkeyluv: And Other Lessons on Our Lives as Animals by Robert Sapolsky. As part of his quest to uncover why we act as we do, he sought to determine at what age people close off to new experiences. This came about in part during interactions with Paul, a temp "whose eclectic taste in music gets 40-something Sapolsky wondering why the soundtrack to his own life has shrunk to a couple of Mahler symphonies and a trusted tape of Bob Marley's greatest hits."
His answer?
Our appetite for thrill-seeking drops off as we age. The quest for the new and different loses its appeal. Brain-imaging research indicates that "older brains often appear more active than younger ones, suggesting that signals to the pleasure response...get diluted."
Gee. Should we just throw the dirt over me now?
One of the author's surveys involved trying to determine the age at which people close off to new experiences in food, music, and body piercings. The results of his surveys: food--39, music-35, body decorations-23.
Does anyone else out there think this is a load of horsehockey? Or is the spec community really that far removed from the average?
I think I know the answer to this.
No new music after 35?
*pfft*
His answer?
Our appetite for thrill-seeking drops off as we age. The quest for the new and different loses its appeal. Brain-imaging research indicates that "older brains often appear more active than younger ones, suggesting that signals to the pleasure response...get diluted."
Gee. Should we just throw the dirt over me now?
One of the author's surveys involved trying to determine the age at which people close off to new experiences in food, music, and body piercings. The results of his surveys: food--39, music-35, body decorations-23.
Does anyone else out there think this is a load of horsehockey? Or is the spec community really that far removed from the average?
I think I know the answer to this.
No new music after 35?
*pfft*
