Seeing eye-to-eye is less likely the older you get, study finds

♦ The stereotype that older people are can be less understanding of other people’s point of view has some truth to it, a study has found.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh found that younger adults are better able to filter information, which makes them better at understanding a situation from someone else’s perspective.

Of 100 people who were asked to describe an object to a partner, older people were more likely to give irrelevant information.

Researchers said older people seemed less able to filter information, leading to “risky communicative errors”. Lead researcher Madeleine Long said: “We hope these findings can be used to design targeted training that helps older adults improve their skills and avoid embarrassing and potential risky communicative errors.”

The study concluded that “that perspective-taking ability declines with age”.