神经科学与心理学2025science.org
年龄与认知技能：用进废退
Age and cognitive skills: Use it or lose it
入门 · 约 30 分钟读完前置知识：认知心理学基础、统计学基础
导读
这篇论文研究年龄与认知能力的关系，核心观点是“用进废退”——持续使用认知技能可以延缓其随年龄的衰退。论文标题即点明：保持智力活动（如继续学习、工作）对维持认知能力至关重要。
HN 关注点：HN 读者多为 40 岁左右的程序员，论文关于认知衰退与持续用脑的结论直接关系到他们的职业焦虑和终身学习选择，引发大量亲身经历分享。
HN 评论精选
这几条评论里：补充 2 亲历 2
亲历40+ 重返大学读数学学位，印证“用进废退”
这是个好消息。我 40 多岁了，今年 1 月在当地大学注册入学，现在（字面意义上）正在为 45 分钟后的线性代数期中考试复习！我上 HN 是为了缓解紧张。我 2000 年代初高中毕业，大学主修计算机科学、辅修数学。我的目标是再修 5-8 门课，拿第二个数学学位。祝我好运吧！
semireg查看英文原文
This is sweet news. I'm over 40. I enrolled at my local university in January and I'm studying (literally right now) for my linear algebra midterm [0] which is in 45 minutes! I'm on HN to calm my nerves. I graduated high school in the early 2000s and graduated college with major in computer science and a minor in math. My goal is 5-8 more classes for a second degree in math (major). Wish me luck! [0] Study guide: https://course1.winona.edu/bperatt/M311S25/Tests/Test%202/test2sg.pdf Course: https://course1.winona.edu/bperatt/M311S25/Administrative/M311S25.html
补充40+ 想重返学习，建议年轻人尽早财务自由
也许我（40+）该回大学了。我想把数学和物理学到广义相对论的水平。既然“用进废退”，最好现在就开始读。但我真的没时间，要学的东西太多了。年轻人们，如果你们没有明确目标——据我观察很多人二十多岁时都没有——请优先实现财务自由。如果能在 35-40 岁退休，你就有充足的时间去追求任何想做的项目。
ferguess_k查看英文原文
Maybe it's time for me (40+) to go back to college. I want to pick up Mathematics and Physics up to the point of General Relativity. Since it's "use it or lose it", I better start reading now. But I don't really have any time. There are so many things to do, to learn. Younger people who happen to stumble upon this reply, please please prioritize financial freedom if you don't have a clear objective in mind -- and from my observation many people don't have a clear objective when they are in their 20s! If you can retire around 35-40, you have ample time to pursuit any project you want for the rest of the life.
亲历经验积累可能抵消认知衰退，提问求证
有 25 年软件开发经验的我注意到，长时间写代码比以前更容易疲劳。但我的生产力显著提高了，因为花在已解决过的问题上的时间大大减少。我刚开始尝试 AI 辅助编程，所以效率提升不是 AI 带来的。是否可以合理推断：认知能力的自然衰退被经验和专业知识的积累所抵消了？
bikamonki查看英文原文
With 25 years of experience in software development, I’ve noticed that long coding sessions leave me feeling more fatigued than they used to. However, I’ve also become significantly more productive, as I spend far less time grappling with problems I’ve already solved. I’ve only just begun to explore AI-assisted coding, so that isn’t what’s driving my efficiency. Is it reasonable to assume that the natural decline in cognitive performance over time is offset by the gains in experience and expertise?
补充长期生存压力和负反馈对认知的消耗同样值得研究
我想看到一项研究：一辈子活在生存压力下的急性应激，把大脑过度用于错误任务，会对大脑造成什么影响。过去 25 年对偏爱学术和纯研究而非逐利创新的人来说格外痛苦。看到我们拥有的算力，我很难过——有财富和权力的人却以自己的成功为由维持现状，而我们本可以通过自动化让能源、水、主食和住房近乎免费，让人们专注于真正的科学工作。我像《时间规划局》《当幸福来敲门》里的人一样活了几十年没有赢过，潜意识已不再相信未来会更好。每天开始工作都要克服巨大的内心阻力。我“才”45 岁左右，在一生负反馈之后，我不确定自己还能否接纳 AI 这类新事物。有再多解决问题的经验也是空虚的，当问题解决本身即将被解决或边缘化……
zackmorris查看英文原文
I'd like to see a study on how the acute stress of living in survival mode for a lifetime affects the brain by using it too much for the wrong tasks. The last 25 years have been particularly painful for people like me who favor academia and pure research over profit-driven innovation that tends to reinvent the wheel. When I look around at the sheer computing power available to us, I'm saddened that people with wealth, power and influence tend to point to their own success as reason to perpetuate the status quo. When we could have had basic resources like energy, water, some staple foods and shelter provided for free (or nearly free) through automation. So that we could focus on getting real work done in the sciences for example, instead of just making rent. I've been living like someone from movies like In Time and The Pursuit of Happyness for so many decades without a win that my subconscious no longer believes that the future will be better. I have to overcome tremendous spidey sense warning signs from my gut in order to begin working each day. The starting friction is intense. To the point where I'm not sure how much longer I can continue doing this to myself, and I'm "only" in my mid-40s. After a lifetime of negative reinforcement, I'm not sure that I can adopt new innovations like AI into my workflows. It's a hollow feeling to have so much experience in solving any problem, when problem solving itself will soon be solved/marginalized to the point that nobody wants to pay for it because AI can do it. I feel rather strongly that within 3 years, mass-layoffs will start sweeping the world with no help coming from our elected officials or private industry. Nobody will be safe from being rendered obsolete, not even you the reader. So I have my faculties, I have potential, but I've never felt dumber or more ineffectual than I do right now.
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