Page 35 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

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person may actually score worse on the standardized memory tests than a fifty-year-old person with
moderate memory loss.

These age-adjusted test scores are used to help distinguish a clinical disorder from normal test
performance within a particular age group. The flip side, of course, is the risk of dismissing
worsening memory as “normal” for a person's age and doing nothing about it.

Education

People who are highly educated score much better on neuropsychological tests than people with low
levels of education. You may recall that when my patient Frieda Kohlberg, who had a genius-level
IQ developed only very subtle memory deficits and otherwise tested at or above the normal range for
someone her age, it was actually the first sign of Alzheimer's disease. But compared to other tests of
intelligence and cognitive ability, memory is less affected by the subject's educational background.

Gender

You may be wondering about the third leg of the triad: age, education, and gender. In fact, there are
subtle differences: women score slightly better on tests of verbal memory, and men score slightly
better on tests of nonverbal memory (unusual shapes and diagrams that cannot be “coded” verbally
for recall) and mathematical ability. However, these differences are very small and may result more
from bias during the educational process than from a true genetic influence.

If You Get Neuropsychological Testing

If you get neuropsychological testing, you should find out from the neuropsychologist if the actual
raw scores were used to make the interpretation or if they were adjusted for age and other factors. If
you do well with or without age and education adjustments, your mental faculties are in excellent
condition. If you need such adjustments to raise you into the normal range for people at your age and
education level, then you probably have subtle age-related memory loss. If you score poorly, whether
age and education adjustments are made, your mem-