Background: The theory of retrogenesis refers to changes in psychomotor abilities that occur in the reverse order in which they are acquired in normal psychomotor development. Such changes occur along the aging process and are also illustrated by the degenerative changes that occur in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Objectives: To review the concept of retrogenesis in aging and in AD and to discuss the articles published on the subject in the last ten years. Methods: A search was conducted in the databases PubMed (MEDLINE), LILACS, Cochrane and SciELO with the keywords "retrogenesis", "elderly" and "Alzheimer's disease". Results: The literature search resulted in six articles, two of which recently published. We conducted a descriptive analysis of them. We observed that the study of retrogenesis in old age has been done primarily on the basis of AD, mainly through literature reviews and theoretical explorations. 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