Feature: Maximize your Memory Even When Aging

Preventing memory loss even when aging is something we can take steps towards, says an MSU expert psychologist. Over 60 and worried about your memory? That is what our ad says when we recruit participants for research in our mood and memory workshops. It has been estimated that half of all persons over the age of 60 complain of memory dysfunction.

Older adults begin to worry when they forget the names of people they have just met, when they cannot find their car in the supermarket parking lot and when they cannot remember where they placed their keys. They worry that these changes in their memory herald the beginnings of serious memory problems or worse yet, the beginnings of Alzheimer's disease. On the other hand, older adults are often told that decline in memory is the price one pays for being older; furthermore, they are told that decline in memory as one ages is widespread so there is no need to do much about this until it is really serious. Some of my colleagues think this is a very curious argument. Just imagine how you would feel if your ophthalmologist or your optometrist were to tell you that vision declines with age, and that decline is widespread and there is really not much that can be done about your vision? What do you mean, you might respond, shouldn't you check if I need glasses? Do you want me to wait until I can't see anything close up anymore? Is that how long I have to wait? To answer that question properly, I need to tell you a little about memory in older adults.

Very often people's eyes glaze over as soon as one starts talking about memory but let me give you a very brief commentary so that you and I are speaking the same language about memory. Very briefly, there are four kinds of memory processes. The first is called registration -- think of this as looking at a photograph or hearing an echo or hearing someone's name just once. My name is Adolph Zircon. This kind of information is here now but gone in less than one second. Unless you are able to transfer this information it is gone. Where would you transfer this information? Well, it would be transferred to the next stage which is called short term memory (also called primary memory). This is a temporary storage maintained by conscious rehearsal or conscious effort by you. It is a limited storage area. How limited? By and large, it is enough to keep a telephone number in mind while you dial the phone. And it is enough to have you remember Adolph what's his name because you thought of a precious stone during the registration phase and so you remember that Adolph's last name was Zircon. Chances are, however, that if you had met Mr. Zircon two weeks ago you won't remember his name now unless you had made a conscious effort to recall his name at the time.

Following the short term memory stage comes the next stage which is called secondary memory. That is a relatively permanent repository of acquired information that is not restricted in capacity. So if you did make an effort to recall Adolph's last name it would probably have entered this repository and the name should be located someplace in your memory bank.

Finally, let me talk about tertiary memory -- all those memories that are relatively or absolutely remote. This includes all your memories from early childhood, adolescence and your youth -- in contrast to the memory of what went on in the last few days or weeks. Now, what has been found concerning your memory?

Let's go back to the registration process -- looking at a photograph, hearing a name or listening to the date for your next staff meeting. Evidence suggests that as you get older there is need for a slightly longer exposure time to have your register something in your memory. For short term or primary memory, like recalling a name just after hearing it there is a lot of anecdotal evidence supporting a slowing process and there is some research evidence which suggests that there is some slowing in primary memory as one gets older. As far as secondary memory is concerned -- like trying to recall a name after meeting several other people at a party. Let's assume you did make some effort to register the names of the people at a party -- for example by repeating everyone's name once. So you met Adolph Zircon, Joseph Stone, Jane Jewel, Betty Smith, and Peter McPherson -- and you did make some effort at recalling these names. That would be an example of the impact of registration on short term memory.

If you did not make much effort at rehearsing these names you may have difficulty answering the following question without looking back. What is the name of the second person I just mentioned. Of course, I cheated a little by trying to distract you with a name you know -- that of Peter McPherson. Now a little about tertiary memory -- also called remote memory.

Try, for example to recall the names of all you family members including uncles and aunts and some distant cousins. While there is anecdotal evidence that older individuals have greater difficulty doing this, there is little research evidence in part because remote memory is difficult to study. For example, if you test someone on the recall of faces or names of famous people, you must control for initial exposure of the material for subsequent rehearsal. Thus, you may have met one of your distant cousins only once and that was a long time ago. Overall, the best conclusion is that there are some age effects for remote memory but the reliability of the findings vary as a function of the method used to study remote memory. However, keep in mind that there are wide individual differences in memory functions as one gets older. In fact, healthy and socially advantage people may easily do as well as younger adults on many memory tests.

On What Does Your Memory Depend

Actually, your memory depends on lots of factors. These include age, education, health and motivation. For example, by age seven children can remember 5-10 bits of information for a short time just like adults but they aren't yet good at long term memory. When youngsters get to be 12-15 years old, researchers note, they do start remembering as well as college students do. Why is that, you may ask. Probably because younger individuals do not use the best techniques to remember -- just as adults do not always use the best methods.

For most people, getting older does not lead to dramatic declines in memory at any age. Education does have an important role in maintaining your memory. That occurs because education places demands on you to remember and occupations which require more education or which require you to obtain continuing education cause you to use your memory faculties more. Thus, your memory is likely to be better.

Many authorities believe that if you are intelligent your memory will be better. You should know that some intelligence tests ask you to check on your memory -- like repeating strings of numbers forward and backward. But, on the other hand, all of you have heard about the absent minded professor -- brilliant in her field -- but she forgets where she has parked her car in the morning. How do you explain this absentmindedness? It probably has to do with the fact that some people remember only what they want to remember and concentrate only on those things that are important to them.

What about your health? Suppose you have a coronary artery disease, or arthritis or diabetes or you just happen to have a cold. Illness often isolates you from social contacts which provide mental stimulation but also drains your mental energy. That is something that happens to all of us but older adults are more likely to suffer from illnesses than do younger folks.