Nonpharmacologic treatments for memory losses with normal aging.

In a critical review of studies of training programs for elderly individuals with cognitive deficits, the author found that decrements of cognitive function with aging are not small. In 70-year-old normal individuals, losses are on the order of 20%-40%, depending on the process tested and the testing method. Although long-term effects are poorly documented, training programs for normal elderly individuals have been shown to improve selected cognitive processes, including memory, to about the same degree that some of these processes decline with aging.