Can the exercises curb cognitive decline indefinitely?
Dr. Merzenich: What we know is that we’ve trained a substantial number of people now that are clearly in trouble — people that are clearly near the bottom of the loop from the standpoint of mental fitness. Many, many people have come up into the normal, more normal status, even above normal status, in a relatively normal period of time. Now, what we don’t know is whether this will delay an ultimate collapse. We believe it will. Is this a process that could work with Alzheimer’s patients? Dr. Merzenich: We are looking at this experimentally, and we are running a trial with scientists at the University of California with a specific objective of determining how far we can go into this severely impaired population and have a positive impact. It’s really too early to say, with scientific certainty, who in that population we can help. What kinds of things can people do to actively preserve mental acuity? Dr. Merzenich: People must continue to learn in their lives. They must be active learne
