Memory training helped older adults recall planned things right after, not later.

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   1,629 older adults, with an average age of 60 or more, took part in 29 trials. Some were healthy. Others had mild cognitive impairment, dementia, stroke, Parkinson's disease or a brain injury.

2. 02

   What they did

   Most trainings taught strategies, such as if-then plans for remembering planned actions. Some were a single session, and others ran for three weeks to two years. The other groups got no training or another activity, such as education.

3. 03

   What happened

   Straight after training, trained people remembered planned things better than the other groups, by a moderate amount. Three to five months later there was no clear difference. Most trials had some concerns or high risk of bias, and the funnel plot suggests weaker studies are missing.

What the review found

1. Helped

   Across 29 studies, memory training helped people recall planned things more than other groups did.

   • Action: Make an if-then plan for your obstacletested

   Pooled analysis of 29 studies with 1,629 people · vs people given no training or another activity · ⚠ signs that small negative studies went unpublished; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited

2. No difference

   Across 7 studies, people who trained did no better than others at recall three to five months later.

   Pooled analysis of 7 studies with 349 people · vs people given no training or another activity · ⚠ signs that small negative studies went unpublished; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited

Source