Summarize some of the cognitive and physical changes that occur during early and middle adulthood

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Most people attain their peak of physical and cognitive performance in their twenties.
Their memory and learning skills are at their best. Their sensory acuteness, muscle strength, reaction time, and cardiovascular fitness are also at their maximum. People perform their best on standard tests of intelligence in early adulthood. Subsequent declines in performance on intelligence tests may be due to a reduction in fluid intelligence (or mental flexibility) rather than crystallized intelligence (or accumulated knowledge). This latter type of intelligence may, in fact, increase with age. People also generally experience declines in memory functioning with age, but these declines are often not noticeable and/or do not affect general life functioning. People begin losing lean body tissue in early adulthood. Approximately 7 pounds of lean tissue is lost each decade. Between ages twenty and seventy, people lose as much as 30
percent of their muscle cells. In middle age, women's reproductive capability ends, as they no longer ovulate. This is referred to as menopause and generally occurs in the late forties or early fifties. In contrast, males remain fertile well into late adulthood; however, their level of testosterone gradually decreases with age.