The idea that our brains decline as we age is in itself in decline. Studies reported in a new edition of the neurology book Progress in Brain Research suggest that for most of us as we age, our attention widens in focus. This, combined with the fact that we have more information to remember, makes it more difficult to recall small bits of information like a phone number or name. Yet it is this very accumulation of information that helps us become "wiser" as we age: by transferring what we’ve learned in one situation to another, we can more readily clarify what information is useful in solving or avoiding problems. We effectively and assimilate data and more easily put it into a broader context. For example, an expanded focus means we can ‘read’ the indirect messages in someone’s body language and conversational tone and wisely conclude the real impact of what they are trying to communicate. Or we can interpret a detail in a letter that may seem irrelevant, but which, given our experience and understanding of a similar situation, we know will directly impact our strategy or plans.

The research of Shelley H. Carson, a psychology researcher at Harvard, into students’ ability to filter irrelevant information drew a parallel between lower activity in the prefrontal cortex and an increased inability to ignore "irrelevant data". This inability to ignore what is ‘new, different, novel’ may lead to more original thinking, and other studies have linked lowered activity in this area of the brain with increased creativity.

Jacqui Smith, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, was quoted in the International Herald Tribune as having said, “These findings are all very consistent with the context we’re building for what wisdom is. If older people are taking in more information from a situation, and they’re then able to combine it with their comparatively greater store of general knowledge, they’re going to have a nice advantage.”