Learning in older age: A lifespan perspective

Learning in older age has become increasingly important in contemporary societies characterized by rapid technological change and extended working lives. Beyond its economic relevance, continued learning is essential for maintaining functional independence, wellbeing, and social participation in later life.

Yet, despite its importance, scientific understanding of why some older adults learn more successfully than others remains limited. In this talk, I argue that a lifespan psychology perspective is crucial for understanding learning in older age: Late-life learning cannot be understood without considering its developmental origins in childhood. Early differences in cognitive abilities, motivation, and learning environments set individuals on trajectories that shape learning capacity across the entire lifespan, with effects that may even accumulate and amplify over time. Complementary evidence further suggests that even very early-life conditions, including those around birth, may have long-lasting consequences for cognitive functioning and aging. I will present new results leveraging natural experiments and unique longitudinal data from the UGU-LIFE study, which follows approximately 20,000 individuals from age 13 into their 70s. These results demonstrate the remarkable power of early-life conditions for understanding cognitive aging and learning in later life. Together, the findings highlight the need to shift research and policy perspectives toward a truly lifespan approach to learning and cognitive development.

Martin Lövdén, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

The Paul B. Baltes Lecture is a joint initiative of the psychology institutes in Berlin and Potsdam (Freie Universität, Humboldt-Universität, Technische Universität, Universität Potsdam, Max Planck Institute for Human Development). It honors Paul B. Baltes, the former director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, for his outstanding contributions to the psychology of the lifespan and for his services to psychological research in the Berlin-Potsdam area.