Advanced (Cognitive) Training for Independent and Vital Elderly

From VOA Learning English

This is the Health Report

Some kinds of mental skills naturally decrease

As people get older

Yet research seems to show that some training

Can improve such skills

A recently published study also appears to demonstrate

That the good effects of training can last for many years

After that training has ended

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland

Wanted to learn how long memory and thinking skills

Would last in older people who trained to keep them

The people were part of the ten-year research project

They were taught methods meant to improve their memory

Thinking and ability to perform everyday tasks

More than 2800 volunteered for the study called ACTIVE

- short for Advanced

Cognitive

Training

For Independent and Vital Elderly

Most studied when they were more than 70 years old

The volunteers took one of several short training classes

Meant to help them keep their mental abilities

One class trained participants in skills

Including how to remember word lists

Another group trained in reasoning

A third group received help with speed-of-processing

- speed of receiving and understanding information

A fourth group - the control group did not get any training

Earlier results had established that the training

Helped the participants for up to five years

Now

Lead study writer George Rebok says

The research showed most of the training

Remained effective a full ten years later

Professor Rebok and his team found that the people

Trained in reasoning and speed-of-processing

Did better on tests than the control group

"We are wondering whether those effects

Which endured over time would still be there

Ten years following the training

And in fact

That's exactly what we found

"

The effect on memory

However

Seemed not to last as long

Still

The old people in any of the three classes

Generally reported less difficulty

In performing daily activities than the control group

The total training time for the older people

Was between 10 and 15 hours

Professor Rebort and his team are now considering ways

To provide such training for lower cost

"We are trying to make the training more broadly available

For example

We have a grant right now

From the National Institute on Aging to try

To make a web-based version of the ACTIVE memory training

And put the training online

"

One question still to be studied

Is how only a few hours of training

Can still be effective after ten years

The study appears in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

And that's the VOA Learning English Health Report