Wisdom — involving cognitive, social, and emotional processes — has been considered a higher-order construct. It includes various domains and distinct traits, such as pro-social behaviors and emotional regulation (Bangen et al., Reference Bangen, Meeks and Jeste2013; Thomas et al., Reference Thomas2019). The article by Lindbergh and colleagues in this issue of International Psychogeriatrics examines the association of wisdom with cognitive function related to fluid intelligence and the brain volume of the prefrontal lobe (Lindbergh et al., Reference Lindbergh2022). The authors hypothesize that wisdom may be dissociable from specific cognitive skills.

In their study, Lindbergh and colleagues measured wisdom with the San Diego Wisdom Scale (SD-WISE) (Thomas et al., Reference Thomas2019; Lindbergh et al., Reference Lindbergh2022); they evaluated fluid intelligence with two cognitive skills — executive function and processing speed (Lindbergh et al., Reference Lindbergh2022). The authors found that wisdom was marginally associated with executive function but not with processing speed. It implies that wisdom may be dissociable with fluid intelligence (Lindbergh et al., Reference Lindbergh2022). In past decades, the construct of wisdom has been systematically studied (Bangen et al., Reference Bangen, Meeks and Jeste2013; Jeste and Lee, Reference Jeste and Lee2019). Wisdom is a complex, multidimensional personality trait. The SD-WISE used in the study covers six domains: social advising, emotional regulation, pro-social behaviors, self-reflection, acceptance of divergent perspectives, and decisiveness (Thomas et al., Reference Thomas2019). Fluid intelligence is the ability to efficiently generate, transform, manipulate, and reason with novel information to accomplish goals and solve problems. Reasoning ability, practical problem-solving ability, or general competence overlap between fluid intelligence and wisdom (Bangen et al., Reference Bangen, Meeks and Jeste2013). Therefore, the study has its heuristic value as seeing persons within the social context may better represent their mental well-being.

Lindbergh and colleagues measured executive function with the Stroop Interference Test, Trail Making Test, Digit Span Backward, Phonemic Fluency, and Design Fluency; they assessed processing speed with tests of visual search, abstract matching, and judgment about length, distance, and shape (Lindbergh et al., Reference Lindbergh2022). In cognitively normal adults, the wisdom-related performance might interrelate with intellectual functioning (e.g. executive function and information processing) and engage sagacity, personality, and empathy (Staudinger, Reference Staudinger1999). The tests of fluid intelligence used in the study only demand cognitive abilities and acquired knowledge. They do not tap into the quintessential aspects of human life, constituting the core of wisdom (Jeste et al., Reference Jeste2010). Therefore, I concur with the authors that wisdom is irrelevant to fluid intelligence measured in the study. However, the executive function also includes other components, such as mental flexibility and planning (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Whether these components are associated with wisdom has yet not been elucidated. It deserves further investigations on the role of comprehensively conceptualized fluid intelligence in modulating wisdom.

In addition, Lindbergh and colleagues observed that wisdom increased with age (Lindbergh et al., Reference Lindbergh2022). Although aging is associated with cognitive decline in several domains, some aspects of thinking may improve into old age, specifically on reasoning about social dilemmas and conflicts (Grossmann et al., Reference Grossmann2010). From the developmental perspective, the attainment of wisdom resembles the development of cognitive reserve and closely relates to one person’s social life. Existing literature has suggested that education and occupational attainment could be considered the proxy of cognitive reserve (Mohammad et al., Reference Mohammad2020). Also, participation in intellectually demanding activities, such as acting as the key opinion leader in local communities, may contribute to cognitive reserve (Wang, Reference Wang2020). More social life experiences have been considered strong contributors to the attainment of wisdom (Webster et al., Reference Webster, Westerhof and Bohlmeijer2014). As such, the study’s findings may improve the utility of wisdom in mental health promotion: it may be advisable to value older individuals’ experiences and viewpoints.

The study thus prompts us to contemplate how wisdom bridges cognitive skills and everyday functioning. Upon reviewing the existing literature, I speculate that social cognition may play an essential role in applying wisdom in social function (Wang et al., Reference Wang2019). Social cognition has become a significant research focus in neurocognitive disorders over the last decade. Theory of mind — the ability to attribute independent mental states to self and others to predict and explain behaviors — is one of the subdomains of social cognition (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Previous studies have shown that older adults perform better than young adults on the theory of mind stories but not on the jumbled passages (Happé et al., Reference Happé, Winner and Brownell1998). Although the concept of wisdom is intended to extend beyond reasoning about thoughts and feelings, superior theory of mind ability may suggest a separate cognitive system underlying social versus nonsocial reasoning.

There might also be a neurobiological mechanism that explains wisdom’s potential role in bolstering decision-making and interpersonal functioning (Lee and Jeste, Reference Lee and Jeste2019). The prefrontal lobe has been considered a central brain region involved in executive function, decision-making, and emotional regulation (Daw et al., Reference Daw2006). However, Lindbergh and colleagues did not find any significant associations between wisdom and the prefrontal cortex volume (Lindbergh et al., Reference Lindbergh2022). The finding does not imply that the prefrontal cortex is unimportant for wisdom. The authors discussed that potential undiagnosed neuropsychiatric problems might attenuate the association of regional volume and wisdom. There might be other explanations: The trajectory of brain volumes has regional and individual variation (Scheinost et al., Reference Scheinost2015). How to adjust for these variations remains a technical challenge in imaging analysis. In addition, as depicted in the model of Alzheimer’s disease, the change of brain function connectivity may precede structural alterations (Sperling et al., Reference Sperling2011). Further studies on the association of wisdom with the function of the brain circuits are warranted.

Mental health is an integral part of overall health and well-being. It includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. For older adults, promoting mental health ultimately aims to preserve their self-efficacy, dignity, and self-value through improving cognitive health, reducing mood problems, and enhancing social engagement. From the positive mental health perspective, the value of the overall wisdom may be greater than the sum of its components (Thomas et al., Reference Thomas2019).

As the authors acknowledge, wisdom — independent from cognitive functions — plays a central role in successful aging (Lindbergh et al., Reference Lindbergh2022). It is associated with a wide range of health outcomes in older adults and an overall sense of mastery and purpose in life. Often, existing mental healthcare services fragment emotional, psychological, and social well-being and do not adequately attend to social adaptation and resilience. It would be promising to view wisdom as a potential ecological domain of mental health. We anticipate that future wisdom-enhancing interventions will emerge to promote the mental well-being of older adults (Lee et al., Reference Lee2020; Reynolds and Blazer, Reference Reynolds and Blazer2020).