Studies of the effect of hormone therapy on cognitive function in menopausal women have been equivocal, in part due to differences in the type and timing of hormone treatment. Here we cognitively tested aged female rhesus macaques on (1) the delayed response task of spatial working memory, (2) a visuospatial attention task that measured spatially and temporally cued reaction times, and (3) a simple reaction time task as a control for motor speed. After task acquisition, animals were ovariectomized (OVX). Their performance was compared with intact controls for 2 months, at which time no group differences were found. The OVX animals were then assigned to treatment with either a subcutaneous sham implant (OVX), 17- estradiol (E) implant (OVXϩE) or E implant plus cyclic oral progesterone (OVXϩEP). All groups were then tested repeatedly over 12 months. The OVXϩE animals performed significantly better on the delayed response task than all of the other groups for much of the 12 month testing period. The OVXϩEP animals also showed improved performance in the delayed response task, but only at 30 s delays and with performance levels below that of OVXϩE animals. The OVXϩE animals also performed significantly better in the visuospatial attention task, particularly in the most challenging invalid cue condition; this difference also was maintained across the 12 month testing period. Simple reaction time was not affected by hormonal manipulation. These data demonstrate that chronic, continuous administration of E can exert multiple beneficial cognitive effects in aged, OVX rhesus macaque females.