The findings, published on Monday in the Journal of theAmerican Geriatrics Society, offer welcome news in the search for ways to keep the mind sharp as 76 million baby boomers in the United States advance into old age.

The federally-sponsored trial of almost 3,000 older adults, called the Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly study (ACTIVE), looked at how three brain training programs --- focusing on processing speed, memory and reasoning ability --- affected cognitively --- normal adults as they aged.

People in the study had an average age of 74 when they started the training, which involved 10 to 12 sessions lasting 60 to 75 minutes each. The training course was designed to improve specific cognitive abilities that begin to decline as people age. It did not aim to prevent dementia(痴呆) caused by underlying disease such as Alzheimer's. After five years, researchers found that those with the training performed better than their untrained counterparts in all three measures.

Although gains in memory seen at the studyˈs five-year mark appeared to drop off over the next five years, gains in reasoning ability and processing speed lasted 10 years after the training.

"What we found was pretty astonishing. Ten years after the training, there was evidence the effects were durable for the reasoning and the speed training," said George Rebok, an expert on aging and a professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who led the study.

The participants in all three training groups also reported that the training made it easier for them to do daily activities such as managing their medications, cooking meals or handling their finances than those who did not get the training. But standard tests of these activities showed no differences between the groups.

"The speed-of-processing results are very encouraging," said study co-author Jonathan King, program director for cognitive aging in the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, which helped fund the research.

King said the self-reported improvements in daily function were interesting, but added, "We do not yet know whether they would truly allow older people to be independent for a longer time." However, the researchers said even a small gain would be likely to ease the burden on caregivers and health care providers.

"If we delay the attack of difficulties in daily activities even by a small amount, that can have major public health implications in terms of helping to control healthcare costs, delaying entry into institutions and hospitals," Rebok said.

Brain Training Courses Keep __1__ Sharp

Basic information about the study ●The study was __2___ by the federal government.

●3,000 participants aged 4 on average were ___3___ in the training course.

●They were given cognitive training, whose ___4___ were processing speed, memory and reasoning ability.