La glottogeragogia e l’invecchiamento della memoria. Uno sguardo di insieme

Aging has long been thought as the phase of life of the inevitable deterioration of memory. Therefore, learning was considered problematic if not impossible since aging is the phase characterised by what was called “global cognitive decline”. Nevertheless, since the middle of the past century, the state of memory in the elderly was deeply reconsidered. Seeing as memory is made up of different processes which interact each other affecting several brain areas, there is no unitary aging of memory in the elderly. Some types of memory are very sensitive to aging, while others are preserved very well and show no signs of impairment. Then, fom the point of view of language education of the elderly, it is necessary to know the different features of the aging of memory in order to prepare teaching activities and educational paths that take into account the specific characteristics and changes that affects memory over the years. This paper will describe important aspects of the education of the elderly and the features of the aging of memory fundamental for the development of a language education model for the elderly.