Page 228 - Mind Games The Aging Brain and How to Keep it Healthy

212 • Chapter 7

Figure 7-1 The Ugly Plate

may use glasses to allow you to read as comfortably as
before or select the large-print editions.
3. Remediate: Intervene by improving the affected ability.
Investigate eye surgery to fix the problem once and for
all.

We have focused on compensation strategies and reme-
diation strategies in this text. One of the methods you can
use to compensate is external memory aids. One of the more
interesting research studies involved the use of an ugly plate
as a visual mnemonic device for seniors to use as a memory
aid (see Figure 7-1). The plate was a cheap plastic three-sec-
tion picnic plate in the ugliest color the researchers could
find. The plate was placed in a prominent place in the home
(where you couldn’t possibly miss it). It could only be re-
moved for social occasions. Items to be remembered, such as