Crataegus pinnatifida (hawthorn) is highly popular as a pleasant-tasting functional food and herb that can also be used for treating cardiovascular diseases. The improvements in learning and memory brought about by C. pinnatifida have been investigated, and the mechanism of action in scopolamine-induced amnesia model in mice was elucidated. C. pinnatifida extract was orally administered to the mice, and scopolamine, a muscarinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist, was injected 30 min before the Y-maze, passive avoidance, and Morris water maze test. It was observed that C. pinnatifida extract improved the percentage of spontaneous alternation, increased the step-through latency, and shortened the escape latency, respectively. C. pinnatifida extract contained 380.70 kcal energy, which had contributions from carbohydrate (92.5%), sugars (92.4%), crude protein (1.1%) and crude fat (0.7%). Polyphenol and flavonoid contents assessed using Folin-Denis’ reagent and aluminium nitrate revealed 9.8±0.3 mg tannic acid equivalent/g of polyphenol and 18.9±0.4 mg quercetin equivalent/g of flavonoid, respectively. Furthermore, C. pinnatifida extract inhibited acetylcholinesterase in the whole brain. Taken together, this study demonstrated that C. pinnatifida ameliorated memory and cognitive function, indicating that it might be useful as a functional food and could also be an efficient candidate as an anti-amnesia agents.