When Deb Frame showed up to teach a class on improving memory, the cognitive psychologist was surprised to see 115 people in the audience.

“I think there’s a genuine fear of, ‘Am I going to lose my memory? Am I going to get Alzheimer’s?’ Only about 10 percent of the population actually will get Alzheimer’s in their lifetime. So, it’s a disease. We’re not all getting Alzheimer’s,” said Frame, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Cincinnati-Blue Ash College.

Still, baby boomers worry. A MetLife survey in 2006 revealed that Americans 55 and older fear Alzheimer’s more than cancer or other serious diseases. Last year, when MetLife asked 65-year-olds at what age they thought they were their sharpest mentally, the majority said sometime between their 30s and 50s, with a peak in their 40s.

Responding to boomers’ concerns, programs and classes aimed at informing seniors how to improve memory are cropping up. Even Sam’s Club last month offered a free memory test along with other health screenings.

Memory lapses, such as where you put your car keys, aren’t just boomer issues.

“That will happen to anyone at any age, if they’re busy enough. That’s more of an interference issue or retrieval issue. I can’t get it out of my memory,” Frame said. “It’s kind of like a stereotype, that we all start having trouble with our memory in our 40s or 50s.”

Specific changes do happen as we age, and research shows that we mentally process more slowly over time, Frame said. Changes that occur probably don’t show up until the early to mid-60s. Most older adults compensate very well until at least the mid-70s, by using their general knowledge acquired over a lifetime of learning and experiences, she said.

Grouping skills

During Frame’s class for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Cincinnati, she used interactive exercises to involve her audience in grouping and organizing memories.

She showed 12 random letters for about 10 seconds and then asked participants to write them down. They remembered four to six letters. The average is five to nine, Frame said. She then presented the same letters again, but reorganized them into NFL, CBS, FBI and DNA. They all said they remembered all 12.

“Organizing the information while you’re learning it, or while you’re trying to remember it, will help you be able to find it and retrieve it. It’s kind of like a file drawer. You’re putting it into folders or grouping things that are meaningful units,” the Springboro woman said.

Normal vs. disease

Inevitably, seniors want to know the difference between normal aging and signs of Alzheimer’s. Many experts describe it as the difference between forgetting where you put your keys, and not knowing what to do with a key.

A primary-care doctor should be consulted if a person is forgetting things quickly, and if there are concerns about how that person is functioning in daily life, said George Jewell, neuropsychologist at Drake Center in Cincinnati.

“If a person is having difficulty remembering really important things, like forgetting to take medications or forgetting to pay your bills, that’s something to be concerned about. But it’s important to realize that everybody forgets things and to not sweat the small stuff too much. Try to focus on the important things.”