| The most evident changes in the working of the brain during ageing consist of the deterioration of short-term memory and the decrease in response speed. Both of these factors limit the possibilities for normal living in society and are the subject of a large number of studies. Nevertheless, if an elderly person gets more time for solving a particular problem, which does not require too much of contemporary knowledge, the elderly people concede only insignificantly to the younger ones. In the problems, which are related to vocabulary, general knowledge and the activities which the person is used to, the reduction in productiveness with increase in age is practically unnoticeable.
The important psychological effect of ageing is classically considered as the fall in the level of contemporary knowledge, related to the reduction in the capability to learn. Experimental studies show that elderly people actually learn significantly slowly than the younger ones, generally as a whole they are capable to assimilate the new material and they can remember the new information in the same manner as the young people. Nevertheless, the differences in learning increase with the complexity of the subject being taught.
The economic aspects of Old People:
Due to the decrease in the capability to carry out various types of day to day jobs in industrial societies the elder people gradually lose their sources of income. In this way, they rely on their personal savings, help by their children and the society. Because of the lack of confidence in the future these elder people differ in their tendencies of saving and investment of money instead of spending them on consumables. At the level of government, the elder population leaves the work force, while increasing the load on the active work force and opening the way for automation of production.
State social programs, helping the senior citizens exist in society, existed at a certain level since the Roman Empire. In medieval Europe the first rule about the responsibility of state for the elder citizens was adopted in England in 1601. In the real sense pensions were first introduced in the year 1880 by Otto von Bismarck in Germany. Today, most countries have one or the other form of programs of social security for senior citizens. However, these state programs ease the burdens of old age, but they don’t lift the senior citizens to the level of income at par with that of the younger people.
There are many variations between the countries in the determination of old age as well as in relation to old age. For example, the age of superannuation varies among the countries in the range of 55 to 70 years. Above all, this difference is explained by the inequalities in the average life expectancy and the working capability of the elderly. Additionally, as it is already explained above, significant inequalities have been observed between the industrial and traditionally agrarian societies. While in the first ones the influence of the elders is insignificant, in the latter societies old age is considered to be a symbol of wisdom, and the elders have a lot of influence on the community.
Legal aspects:
Although in most countries, the citizens have certain rights and duties starting from a particular age (like the right to vote, the right to purchase alcoholic drinks or criminal responsibility), often elderly people are deprived of some rights. A typical example of this is the driving license, which is generally restricted in many countries to the maximum age of 70 to 75 years.
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