As a person ages, what typically happens to their neural communication?

As individuals age, neural communication generally becomes slower and less efficient. This decline can be attributed to several biological factors. Firstly, the myelin sheath, which helps speed up electrical impulses along the neurons, can deteriorate over time. This degradation results in slower transmission of signals between neurons. Additionally, the overall number of neurons tends to decrease with age, and the efficiency of synaptic connections may diminish, further contributing to slower processing speeds. Cognitive functions such as memory, attention, and reaction times are often affected by these changes in neural communication, leading to the experience that older adults may take longer to respond or process information compared to younger individuals. These aspects illustrate the impact of aging on the nervous system and encapsulate why the response indicating slower and less efficient neural communication is accurate.