Improving memory in older adults by instructing them in professional actors' learning strategies

This study examined a new type of cognitive intervention. For four weeks, p articipants (ages 65 to 82) were instructed in professional acting techniqu es, followed by rehearsal and performance of theatrical scenes. Although th e training was not targeted in any way to the tasks used in pre- and post-t esting, participants produced significantly higher recall and recognition s cores after the intervention. It is suggested that the cognitive effort inv olved in analyzing and adopting theatrical characters' motivations (and the n experiencing those characters' mental/emotional states during performance ) is responsible for the observed improvement. A secondary strand of this s tudy showed that participants who were given annotated scripts in which the implied goals of the characters were made explicit demonstrated significan tly faster access to the stored material, as measured by a computer latency task. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.