[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.80]this is the Health Report.
[00:05.44]Some kinds of mental skills naturally decrease
[00:09.57]as people get older.
[00:11.71]Yet research seems to show that some training
[00:15.29]can improve such skills.
[00:18.23]A recently published study also appears to demonstrate
[00:22.61]that the good effects of training can last for many years
[00:27.00]after that training has ended.
[00:29.64]Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland
[00:34.22]wanted to learn how long memory and thinking skills
[00:38.70]would last in older people who trained to keep them.
[00:42.98]The people were part of the ten-year research project.
[00:47.06]They were taught methods meant to improve their memory,
[00:51.11]thinking and ability to perform everyday tasks.
[00:56.23]More than 2,800 volunteered for the study called ACTIVE
[01:01.76]- short for Advanced (Cognitive) Training
[01:04.94]for Independent and Vital Elderly.
[01:08.32]Most studied when they were more than 70 years old.
[01:13.35]The volunteers took one of several short training classes
[01:17.84]meant to help them keep their mental abilities.
[01:21.42]One class trained participants in skills
[01:25.41]including how to remember word lists.
[01:28.15]Another group trained in reasoning.
[01:31.58]A third group received help with speed-of-processing
[01:36.61]- speed of receiving and understanding information.
[01:41.54]A fourth group - the control group did not get any training.
[01:47.36]Earlier results had established that the training
[01:51.14]helped the participants for up to five years.
[01:54.73]Now, lead study writer George Rebok says,
[01:59.40]the research showed most of the training
[02:02.29]remained effective a full ten years later.
[02:05.97]Professor Rebok and his team found that the people
[02:09.75]trained in reasoning and speed-of-processing
[02:13.05]did better on tests than the control group.
[02:16.83]"We are wondering whether those effects
[02:18.92]which endured over time would still be there
[02:21.96]ten years following the training,
[02:23.50]and in fact, that's exactly what we found."
[02:25.54]The effect on memory, however, seemed not to last as long.
[02:31.46]Still, the old people in any of the three classes
[02:36.69]generally reported less difficulty
[02:39.36]in performing daily activities than the control group.
[02:44.33]The total training time for the older people
[02:47.96]was between 10 and 15 hours.
[02:51.30]Professor Rebort and his team are now considering ways
[02:55.89]to provide such training for lower cost.
[02:59.72]"We are trying to make the training more broadly available.
[03:05.79]For example, we have a grant right now
[03:09.08]from the National Institute on Aging to try
[03:11.36]to make a web-based version of the ACTIVE memory training
[03:16.55]and put the training online."
[03:18.29]One question still to be studied
[03:21.64]is how only a few hours of training
[03:24.97]can still be effective after ten years.
[03:28.85]The study appears in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
[03:34.58]And that's the VOA Learning English Health Report.