According to memory expert Tony Dottino, the brain is a muscle that must be exercised constantly or people could risk losing their mental edge.

"The brain is like a muscle," Dottino said. "If it's not used, it atrophies."

Dottino gave a two-part seminar to the residents of Whispering Oaks retirement home on improving the memory. He is the founder of the United States Memory Competition, and is president of the New Jersey-based Dottino Consulting Group, a firm that helps companies improve their businesses by working with the people they employ. Some of his firm's clients include conEdison, British Airways and Johnson&Johnson.

"It is imperative for the brain to learn new things," Dottino said. "There's a tendency for people to want to settle down and take it easy, but the worst thing we can do for our brains is to settle down."

Some "brain exercises," he said, that can help keep the brain in good shape, is to read, work crossword puzzles, and meet new people.

To start his seminar, Dottino explained how the brain, and memory, works. The brain has an infinite number of pathways set up, he said, made of brain cells that connect via electricity.

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