Some menteal functions actually improve with age, particularly those which benefit from experience and learning. Dr Elizabeth Maylor, of the Medical Research Council’s Applied evidence for this through her study of 100 contestants in Mastermind, the popular TV quiz show. She found that the older contenders were much more proficient on general knowledge than the younger contestants. Here, their greater experience enabled them to make responses which were more accurate, and also faster, than their youthful rivals.