Forget me not - keeping memory in good order
Baby boomers like new challenges so they are unlikely to accept any risk of weakening in memory as they age.
La Trobe psychologist, Associate Professor Glynda Kinsella does not have a cure for memory decline, but she is optimistic that a training program could at least keep ageing memories well serviced.
Two memory functions that are vulnerable to age are the abilities to learn new tasks and to retrieve information swiftly. Any difficulties in these areas are often compensated by other cognitive skills yet many people become concerned. Some people, she says, pride themselves on their memories, particularly their ability to remember names. They might play key social roles such as secretary of a club or personal assistant in a business.
'The frequency of the memory lapses can become particularly challenging for them,' she says.
Dr Kinsella is part of a team with an NH&MRC grant to investigate if memory can be improved with training. They hope the training will also guard against further decay into dementia.
The study will be the first that focuses on improving memory in everyday life situations rather than on tests. It will ask people to remember tasks rather than lists of words.
Many people, for example, have trouble remembering names. They also forget to carry out planned activities. These lapses occur even though their fund of knowledge about the world remains robust.
'A lot of people are fiercely independent and they don't want to relinquish their position in the social structure by delegating memory tasks to others in their work or home group,' says the psychologist.
'People very often do want to keep on top of dealing with the tough tasks such as managing financial affairs or moving house.'
The memory training begins with a discussion about general strategies such as organisation, the role of prompts and cues and paying attention in busy environments. It then moves on to deal more directly with particular memory issues by focusing on the intent of tasks.
'This needs to be elaborated in our minds,' Dr Kinsella says. 'It helps to add more information about the task to be remembered and to associate the task with other features of the environment such as locality. These act as additional prompts. We hope that the specifics of forgotten tasks are captured in a cascade of memories.
'If the task is very specific then we need to strengthen the memory, to encode it by rehearsing it at longer and longer intervals. Repetition is not as effective as reworking the memory at intervals.'
People can have memory issues at all ages, Professor Kinsella says. Lapses can be affected by anxiety, illness, stress and a host of other physical factors. It's just that the wear and tear of age is of particular concern to baby boomers about to enter their sixties.
Training will be held weekly over six weeks and comparisons made between those who are reporting memory problems and those who are not.