scholarly journals Metamemory for Prospective Memory Performance in Younger and Older Adults: Does the Reference Point Affect our Judgments?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Scarampi ◽  
Matthias Kliegel

The present study investigated age differences in the ability to predict prospective memory (PM) performance. A sample of younger (N = 88) and older (N = 88) participants completed an event-based PM task embedded in an ongoing task. Metamemory was measured by asking participants to predict their performance before completing the PM task and complete some questionnaires on self-perceptions of everyday memory ability. We manipulated A) the reference point used to evaluate performance and B) the order of presentation of the instruments. One group of participants predicted their upcoming performance with a general confidence rating (performance condition) whereas a different group predicted their performance in comparison to other people of their age (peers condition). The metamemory questionnaires were completed either at the beginning of the experimental session or after the PM task, in a counterbalanced order. In terms of performance, we did not observe age differences in PM. In terms of metamemory, younger and older participants were similarly underconfident in the performance condition and overconfident in the peers condition. Moreover, older adults reported significantly better PM abilities than younger adults, and participants generally reported more memory failures when the metamemory questionnaires were administered after the PM task and in the performance condition. These findings show that both younger and older adults have limited metacognitive insights, and point to reactive effects of metamemory to metacognitive reference point and order of administration of the instruments.

1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 326-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia P. May ◽  
Lynn Hasher ◽  
Ellen R. Stoltzfus

Across two studies comparing younger and older adults, age differences in optimal performance periods were identified (Study 1), and then shown to be an important determinant of memory differences (Study 2). A norming study showed that while most younger adults were Evening or Neutral types, as determined by a standard questionnaire, the vast majority of older adults were Morning types. A second study compared the recognition performance of younger and older adults tested in the morning or in the late afternoon. Substantial age differences were found in the late afternoon, when younger but not older adults were at their optimal times. However, no age differences in memory performance were found in the morning, when older but not younger adults were at their peak period. Thus, synchrony between optimal performance periods and the time at which testing is conducted may well be a critical variable in determining group differences in intellectual performance, particularly between older and younger adults.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 818-818
Author(s):  
Sawyer J ◽  
Barnett M ◽  
Bennett L ◽  
Donnell R ◽  
Flair A ◽  
...  

Abstract Objective Processing speed may partially mediate age-related differences in prospective memory (PM) abilities (West & Craik, 2001). The present preliminary study aimed to further investigate the relationships between prospective memory and processing speed by utilizing a novel virtual reality-based prospective memory measure. The task was designed to assess the impacts of a virtual environment would facilitate a deeper level of processing and enhance prospective memory performance. Method 49 older adults (M = 73.87, SD = 8.24) and 39 younger adults(M = 18.87, SD =1.61) completed the Coding subtest of the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS- IV) as well as a virtual-reality prospective memory measure that utilized both time-based and event-based cues. Results Coding was strongly correlated with PM time-based cues (r = .43, p < .01) and event-based cues (r = .53, p < .001). There were no correlations between processing speed and prospective memory in the young adult sample. Conclusion This study suggests that processing speed is strongly related to virtual-reality based PM and suggests that processing speed is a crucial component in prospective memory outcomes in older adults. This novel task virtual reality task may provide construct validity against other prospective memory measures.


2000 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanna Nigro ◽  
Pier Carla Cicogna

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which the retention interval between intention formation and the execution of the action affects the occurrence of remembering and its accuracy. 126 subjects (48 men and 78 women) between 18 and 24 years participated in a two-phase experiment. An event-based prospective memory task was assigned at the end of the first experimental session, which required reporting a message to the second experimenter at the beginning of the second experimental session. The length of the interval of time between the formation of the intention and its execution varied (10 minutes, 2 days, 2 weeks). Participants were randomly assigned to the three conditions (42 each). A post-experimental interview was carried out in order to find out the strategies that subjects employed to retrieve the message and the importance they attributed to the task. Results indicate that the delay affected neither the occurrence of remembering nor its accuracy, and that the importance attributed to the planned action improved the likelihood of prospective remembering. Furthermore, results seem to indicate that external reminders do not improve prospective memory. Further implications of the finding were discussed.


GeroPsych ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 205-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn L. Ossenfort ◽  
Derek M. Isaacowitz

Abstract. Research on age differences in media usage has shown that older adults are more likely than younger adults to select positive emotional content. Research on emotional aging has examined whether older adults also seek out positivity in the everyday situations they choose, resulting so far in mixed results. We investigated the emotional choices of different age groups using video games as a more interactive type of affect-laden stimuli. Participants made multiple selections from a group of positive and negative games. Results showed that older adults selected the more positive games, but also reported feeling worse after playing them. Results supplement the literature on positivity in situation selection as well as on older adults’ interactive media preferences.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 881-882
Author(s):  
Alexandra Watral ◽  
Kevin Trewartha

Abstract Motor decision-making processes are required for many standard neuropsychological tasks, including the Trail Making Test (TMT), that aim to assess cognitive functioning in older adults. However, in their standard formats, it is difficult to isolate the relative contributions of sensorimotor and cognitive processes to performance on these neuropsychological tasks. Recently developed clinical tasks use a robotic manipulandum to assess both motor and cognitive aspects of rapid motor decision making in an object hit (OH) and object hit and avoid (OHA) task. We administered the OH and OHA tasks to 77 healthy younger adults and 59 healthy older adults to assess age differences in the motor and cognitive measures of performance. We administered the TMT parts A and B to assess the extent to which OHA performance is associated with executive functioning in particular. The results indicate that after controlling for hand speed, older adults performed worse on the OH and OHA tasks than younger adults, performance declines were far greater in the OHA task, and the global performance measures, which have been associated with cognitive status, were more sensitive to age differences than motor measures of performance. Those global measures of performance were also associated with measures of executive functioning on the TMT task. These findings provide evidence that rapid motor decision making tasks are sensitive to declines in executive control in aging. They also provide a way to isolate cognitive declines from declines in sensorimotor processes that are likely a contributing factor to age differences in neuropsychological test performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S785-S785
Author(s):  
Tze Kiu Wong ◽  
Helene H Fung

Abstract Previous studies usually found that older people are less politically engaged than younger adults, especially when considering political behavior other than voting. The current study extends the Selective Engagement hypothesis (Hess, 2014) to political engagement. 81 younger adults and 79 older adults rated 8 issues on self-relevance and their willingness to engage in political discussion, arguments and collective action on each issue. The predicted moderating effect of self-relevance was not found, but older people indeed are more willing to discuss (B = 0.07, p = 0.027) and argue with others on more self-relevant issues (B = 0.06, p = 0.031). Perceived cost of collective action was found to be a moderator, such that self-relevance was less important than other factors for high-cost actions (B = -0.016, p = 0.013). The current research sheds light on potential ways to increase older adults’ engagement in social issues.


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