Ask HN: What's the best paper you've read in 2020?
I think one of the most interesting papers I read this year was Hartshorne &amp; Germine, 2015, &quot;When does cognitive functioning peak? The asynchronous rise and fall of different cognitive abilities across the life span&quot;: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1177&#x2F;0956797614567339" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;doi.org&#x2F;10.1177&#x2F;0956797614567339</a><p>There are lots of good bits, such as: &#x27;On the practical side, not only is there no age at which humans are performing at peak on all cognitive tasks, there may not be an age at which humans perform at peak on <i>most</i> cognitive tasks. Studies that compare the young or elderly to “normal adults” must carefully select the “normal” population.&#x27; (italics in original)<p>This seems to me to comport with the research suggesting that most or all of the variance in IQ across the life span can be accounted for by controlling for mental processing speed; i.e., you are generally faster when you are younger, but you are not more correct when you are younger.