Dr. Sandra Weintraub

We just don't have enough to know.

We also don't know about super something else.

What about somebody who's, like I gave an example of Simone Biles, who does a backward flip on a balance beam?

I'm sure there are some 70-year-olds who can do that.

What makes them super in that?

So we've kind of focused on this little tiny memory thing.

So now we want to kind of find out, do these people not only have super memory, but might they have something else super?

Now, certainly in terms of their cognitive function, yes.

On all their other cognitive tests, our definition says that they must score within normal limits for their age, not super for their age, only on memory, super, and everything else average.

Well, the way that we measure things is so...

some of our tests are so gross that we might now have more methods for using computerized tasks to see, you know, are they quicker at noticing things?

Are they quicker at responding to not just reaction time, but to important things in the environment?

So that's kind of where we want to go next.

And we also, we want to know another thing that people complain about when they get older is they can't think of a word or a name.

And we want to know, how about the super agers?

Because that's a kind of memory.

It's not the same kind, memory for words.

But we want to know, they have this incredible memory for words you give them.

But what about when they're just talking extemporaneously?

Do they sort of pause and say, hello?