The Effect of Associative Memory Exercises in Older Adults

Aging is associated with decreasing memory (Luo, 2008). At any age, however, it is possible to sharpen and strengthen memory (Kesler et al., 2011). The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of brain exercises on associative memory in elderly individuals with no apparent sign of impaired cognition. We hypothesize that frequent and regular exercise of associative memory improves mental state. To test our hypothesis, two associative memory exercises targeting the connection between the left and right brain hemispheres were designed and applied on 9 elderly between 70 to 90 years of age, during 8 consecutive weeks, with 3 exercise sessions/week. All participants’ memory and mental condition were assessed using the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS III) questionnaire and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA). These two assessments were conducted at the beginning and the end of the exercise regime, and again one month afterwards. The results show that, on average, exercising participants’ memory and mental states improved significantly over the eight weeks of trials. The results are encouraging; they suggest that the designed memory exercises could be used as a tool to improve the cognitive state of the older population. Hence, engaging in the proposed memory exercises regularly may delay the onset of dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment