2006年VOA标准英语-Study Finds That Brain Exercises Help Memory

By David McAlary
Washington
19 December 2006

As we get older, most of us will have more difficulty remembering things, like phone numbers, grocery lists, and most importantly, when to take medications. But a new study shows that mental training for elderly people can help them function better in their daily lives. VOA's David McAlary reports.

With the proportion of elderly people growing in the global population, scenes like this might become more common. "The next word is elephant, because the elephant is on the moon, not a man in the moon."

This is a trainer teaching a group of elderly women strategies to help them remember things like lists better. Psychologist Sherry Willis says the goal is to help them maintain mental, or cognitive¹ skills. "We focused on three abilities: memory, reasoning and speed of processing."

Dr. Willis and her colleagues at Pennsylvania State University and five other U.S. sites studied nearly 3,000 elderly people who lived independently and did not have dementia. Some got 10 one-hour training sessions over six weeks while others got no training at all. "Immediately after training, individuals who were trained on memory or individuals who were trained on reasoning or speed showed significantly higher performance than those who received no training," she said.

But even better, much of that benefit held up for five years after the training. Willis' team reports in the Journal of the American Medical Association that people who got the training also felt better about how well they functioned in their daily activities. "Older adults really can continue to exercise mentally and to improve their cognitive abilities. But it does take work. It's just like physical exercise, you have to do it consistently and diligently," he said.

Strong mental abilities mean people can take better care of themselves, by remembering their medications, for example. Eighty-year-old Pauline Lopez had trouble remembering phone numbers until she was in the study and had the memory training. "I do remember phone numbers much more readily right now. I don't know what's happened but I see them one time, then I remember them, and I remember directions better than I had before," she said.

She took that memory training in 1999 and says it continues to help her.

In an editorial accompanying the study, Wake Forest University psychologist Sally Shumaker and colleagues say cognitive training programs may give individuals a greater sense of control over their mental lives and have a beneficial effect on the quality of their lives.

They add that such mind exercises provide another type of intervention² for people with the form of dementia called Alzheimer's disease who cannot tolerate existing drugs for the condition.

Dr. Sherry Willis at Pennsylvania State University says the best way to exercise your mind is to find activities you like, such as crossword³ puzzles or crafts, but be sure to keep challenging yourself. "Don't do the same activity over and over in a routinized manner. One must continually seek more challenging tasks so that your mind is exercised," she said.

1 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

2 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

3 crossword   

n.纵横字谜，纵横填字游戏

参考例句：

• He shows a great interest in crossword puzzles.他对填字游戏表现出很大兴趣。
• Don't chuck yesterday's paper out.I still haven't done the crossword.别扔了昨天的报纸，我还没做字谜游戏呢。