• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Terrifying animation shows what happens to your brain as you age and how it reacts to negativity

Home> News> Health

Published 12:36 3 Jun 2025 GMT+1

Terrifying animation shows what happens to your brain as you age and how it reacts to negativity

The animation detailed how older generation react differently to negativity

Callum Jones

Callum Jones

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover

A chilling simulation has revealed what happens to the brain as you age and how it reacts to negativity within everyday life.

Like the rest of our bodies, the brain develops as we age - but the brain is arguably one of the more important parts of the body.

You may be wondering why it's easier to learn a foreign language in childhood and harder to remember your day-to-day tasks as you reach your later years.

Well, a simulation video uploaded by The Economist explained what happens to your brain as you age and how it responds to negativity.

Advert

Post-puberty, the brain continues to develop as brain tissue in the prefrontal cortex increases connections, the video explained.

The simulation has detailed what happens as you age (Getty Stock Photo)
The simulation has detailed what happens as you age (Getty Stock Photo)

Come your 30s, the brain reaches 'full development', while white matter, which sends electrical signals between different parts of the brain and spinal cord, reaches its highest volume come the age of 40.

Older age people are found to use both sides of the brain for short-term memory, while someone more of a spring chicken are likely to just use the left hand side.

'Middle-aged' brains have also learnt to 'minimize the negative', with scientists discovering the amygdala, the part of the brain that deals with emotion, lights up when younger people look at both positive and negative images, The Economist video added.

But for older adults, it reacts much less to negative images, likely because the majority of people tend to be more resilient the more the age.

The brain changes rapidly as we age (Getty Stock Photo)
The brain changes rapidly as we age (Getty Stock Photo)

Neuroscientist and neurosurgical medical researcher, Dr Stefan Mindea, added further meat to the bone during an interview with The Mirror.

Explaining what happens at our mid-30s, Mindea said: "Many people experience shifts in cognitive priorities, often focusing more on what to contribute to the next generation and on personal self-reflection.

"This is also when some experience what’s called 'cognitive peak' - especially in areas like verbal memory and accumulated knowledge.

"This is basically the point when you will achieve maximum mental output or brain performance."

As for picking things up more easily as a child, our brains go through a period of 'pruning' once we progress into adolescence, with unused neural connections from our childhoods going into 'atrophy'.

Mindea added that the brain 'gradually atrophies or shrinks' once we pass the age of 65, which basically means we can look forward to a decline in our problem solving and processing abilities from then.

Featured Image Credit: YouTube/TheEconomist

Topics: Health, Science

Callum Jones
Callum Jones

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

2 mins ago
2 hours ago
  • Kevin Winter/Getty Images
    2 mins ago

    Oscars producers address 'difficult' issue after 'rude' move during historical KPop Demon Hunters win

    People took issue with the winners being cut off

    Film & TV
  • Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images/ABC
    2 hours ago

    Kid Rock has brutal response to Conan O'Brien's Oscars joke

    Conan O'Brien made reference to Kid Rock's Turning Point USA halftime show

    Celebrity
  • Nathan Howard/Getty Images
    2 hours ago

    US director of National Counterterrorism suddenly resigns with scathing statement on Trump and Iran

    Joe Kent has resigned from his role of Director of the National Counterterrorism Center

    News
  • Cindy Ord/VF26/Getty Images for Vanity Fair
    2 hours ago

    Jessica Alba's eye-watering divorce settlement following split from husband of almost 20 years

    A judge has officially signed off on Jessica Alba and her husband's divorce filing

    Celebrity
  • Eye-opening simulation shows exactly what happens to your body when you fast for 24 hours
  • Terrifying simulation shows exactly what happens to your body when smoking
  • Shocking simulation shows what happens to your body when you fast for 36 hours and the extreme impact
  • Eye-opening simulation shows exactly what happens to your body when you fast for 24 hours