In June 1932 and June 1947, nearly all 11-year-olds who were attending school in Scotland sat a test of verbal reasoning. In the past decade, more than 1,500 of those people – now in older age – were recruited to the Lothian Birth Cohorts 1921 and 1936.
The rich scientific data from those students have contributed to our knowledge about why some people's thinking skills age better than others. Each life, though, has stories, details and colour that are not captured by questionnaires, medical tests nd brain scans.
In “Lifetimes”, both the participants and scientists from the Lothian Birth Cohort studies tell us about their lives and influences.