A study led by the University of Michigan and Penn State College of Medicine “compared two approaches for people with an early form of memory loss.” The first approach is “mnemonic strategy training” which connects the thing that an individual is to remember with something “like a word, phrase or song (such as the Dear Aunt Sally mnemonic).” The second approach is “spaced retrieval training” which “gradually increases the amount of time between tests of remembering something.” According to Benjamin Hampstead, PhD, the study found that “Mnemonic strategy training increased activity in brain areas often affected by Alzheimer’s disease, which likely explains why this training approach helped participants remember more information and for longer. In contrast, those completing rehearsal-based training showed reduced brain activity, which suggests they were processing the information more efficiently.”
https://labblog.uofmhealth.org/lab-notes/finding-right-memory-strategy-to-slow-cognitive-decline