My limitations are growing. I struggle to do a single pull-up or very many push-ups. I had to have my granddaughter whisper in my ear what the target Password was since I couldn't make it out in the low lighting of the lodge. I have trouble hearing what others say, even though I know they have spoken. So far, my memory is not too bad but I am getting practice in finding some alternative expression for what I can't remember.
I read Seven Sins of Memory by Daniel Schacter of Harvard's psych. department. He says that remembering names is more difficult than some other types of things since often the name is not associated with much else. Thus, worrying the memory and trying to approach it from a different angle is not of much use. There may not be many different angles. Schacter himself found that he suffered as many older people do from high levels of automaticity. Making coffee or doing some other everyday task usually involves automatic routines which are done so efficiently that they leave no conscious memory. So, if you try to recall whether you used decaf or regular, you can't tell.
Schacter usually puts his car keys in his golf bag. He was placing the bag in the trunk of his car when he suddenly thought to check that he had his keys before shutting the trunk. They weren't in the bag! Where could they be? Then, as he stood in front of the open trunk, he thought. If I opened the trunk with a key, they must be somewhere about. He looked at the open lid and saw the keys still in the keyhole for the trunk. Automaticity!
I often go downstairs and then simply cannot remember what I was after. Usually, if I resign and trudge back up the stairs, I will recall before getting to the top of the staircase.
I figure that by 70 years from now, all of my abilities will be gone. What do you think?
