Page 8 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

Page vii

from a variety of short-term to intermediate-term (a few months to a few years) studies is strong
enough to provide a solid foundation to develop and implement a comprehensive program to prevent
memory loss due to the aging process.

One final issue to consider is called the practice effect. When you first try to complete
neuropsychological tests, which include the tests of memory that you will take in the first chapter,
some parts seem difficult. The next time you do the same tests, you are likely to perform better, even
on those tests that seemed hard to do the first time. This is the practice effect, which means that
repeated testing results in superior performance because the brain automatically (even without
conscious learning) begins to figure out how best to do the test. In people with little to no memory
loss, the practice effect can last for many months after only a single testing session. Therefore, if test
performance is compared before and after treatment for memory loss, there will often be some
improvement due to the practice effect. If, however, active treatment (medication or diet alteration or
memory training or any other intervention) is compared to placebo, subtracting the change on
placebo (sugar pill) from the change on active treatment gives us the real effect. This would take into
account the practice effect, which is assumed to be equal in people on active treatment and people on
placebo. In other words, it is easy to show that a treatment intervention leads to improved memory
by retesting the subject, but the only sound way to show that this improvement is not caused by the
practice effect is to conduct a placebo-controlled study. This issue is critical in evaluating the merits
of any of the treatments described in this book, or any other information that you may come across in
the media about the treatment of memory loss.

Despite these reservations, the available evidence provides considerable room for optimism. I
suggest that you begin, and then maintain, the Memory Program to prevent memory loss, and to
directly tackle mild memory loss if it has already begun to affect your life. Over an extended period
of time, you are likely to look back with satisfaction at the results that you have achieved.