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Overwhelming evidence now shows that
the once common belief that memory decline is a natural consequence
of aging is a fallacy. As a person ages, however, it becomes more
difficult to pay attention to more than one thing at a time. It takes
greater effort to learn something new. It is more difficult to call
to mind familiar names and vocabulary words on demand. It takes
longer to recall information from long-term memory.
As we get older our ability to lay down
new memories is affected. This makes it more difficult to learn new
things. Rather than forgetting more easily, we actually take longer
to learn new things. Memory studies have shown that about one third
of elderly people have difficulty with declarative memory. However, a
substantial number of people in their 80s perform as well as people
in their 30s on difficult memory tests.
The serious loss
of memory is not an inevitable by-product of the aging process. A
large-scale study that tracked seniors over a ten-year period found
that cognitive decline is not a normal part of aging for most elderly
people: 70% of the nearly 6000 seniors in the study showed no
significant decline in cognitive function over the ten-year period.
(Haan,
M.N., Shemanski, L., Jagust, W.J., Manolio, T.A. & Kuller, L.
1999. The Role of APOE 4 in Modulating Effects of Other Risk Factors
for Cognitive Decline in Elderly Persons. JAMA, 282, 40-46).
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