This chapter summarizes recent attempts to improve normal memory functioning and to alleviate age-related memory deficits by administering drugs that affect transmission at cholinergic synapses. In young adults, a low dose of physostigmine, a short-acting cholinesterase inhibitor, enhanced storage of in formation in long-term memory. Higher doses of physostigmine impaired all aspects of memory. Choline chloride, a precursor to acetylcholine, did not have a substantial effect on memory in a series of four studies with young and elderly adults. It has been difficult to conduct studies of elderly patients suffering from memory loss because of wide individual variations in baseline cognitive abilities and in dose-response curves for cholinergic drugs. A preliminary study utilizing methods that allow for such individual differences indicates that physostigmine can also improve memory in these patients.