Correlates and Moderators of Change in Subjective Memory and Memory Performance: Findings from the Health and Retirement Study

Abstract

terns of associations emerged with respect to predictors of subjective memory and subjective memory change. First, the level of memory performance showed stronger associations with age, gender, and education, whereas subjective memory was more strongly associated with subjective age and personality traits. For example, women performed better than men on the episodic memory test, but there were no gender differences in subjective memory. Also, older age was associated with steeper declines of memory performance but with less decline of subjective memory. Second, personality traits that predicted subjective memory intercepts did not predict subjective memory slopes. Third, the strength of associations between levels and slopes of subjective memory and memory performance varied as a function of gender, education, depressive symptoms, and personality traits. Conscientiousness moderated the relationship of the level of subjective memory to the level of memory performance, consistent with the hypothesis that persons high in conscientiousness more accurately monitor memory successes and failures. The results reinforce the importance of depressive symptoms as a predictor of subjective memory but also indicate that a broader perspective on the reasons why memory complaints have modest correlations with memory itself is needed. AbstractAging researchers have long been interested in understanding individuals' subjective perceptions of their own memory functioning. Previous research has shown that subjective memory ratings are partly based on memory performance but also reflect the influence of other factors, such as depressive symptoms. The aim of the present study was to examine (1) longitudinal associations between trajectories of subjective memory and memory performance, (2) variables that predict levels of and changes in subjective memory and memory performance, and (3) variables that moderate associations between these constructs. We applied a latent growth curve model to four occasions of data from 15,824 participants of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS; mean age at baseline = 64.27 years, SD = 9.90; 58% women). Results revealed that latent changes in subjective memory were correlated with latent changes in memory performance ( φ = 0.49), indicating that participants who reported steeper declines of subjective memory indeed showed steeper declines of memory performance over time. Three major pat-

Longitudinal Assessment of Self- and Informant-Subjective Cognitive Complaints in a Sample of Healthy Late-Middle Aged Adults Enriched with a Family History of Alzheimer’s Disease

“…The association of more Visit 1 self-SCC and fewer years of education, may align with the well-known protective effects (e.g., cognitive reserve; use of compensation strategies) of education on cognitive decline and rate of conversion to dementia (Karp et al, 2004; Letenneur et al, 2000; Qiu, Bäckman, Winblad, Agüero-Torres, & Fratiglioni, 2001; Stern et al, 1994; van Oijen, de Jong, Hofman, Koudstaal, & Breteler, 2007). However, studies have observed steeper rates of decline in self-SCC (more complaints) in more highly educated individuals (Hulur, Hertzog, Pearman, Ram, & Gerstorf, 2014; Hulur et al, 2015; Zelinski, Burnight, & Lane, 2001); and when self-SCC complaints are present, appear to be more predictive of cognitive decline and AD risk compared to that in less educated individuals (Chary et al, 2013; van Oijen et al, 2007. Thus, there may be a period of delay of self-reported cognitive changes in at-risk individuals who are highly educated, and then eventually convert at a faster rate later in time after accumulation of neurodegenerative processes (Stern, Albert, Tang, & Tsai, 1999).…”

“…Longitudinal studies using multiple time points and controlling for known confounding factors (e.g., depressive symptoms), have generally found a modest relationship between SCC and OM (Crumley, Stetler, & Horhota, 2014; Hulur, Hertzog, Pearman, & Gerstorf, 2015; Mascherek & Zimprich, 2011; Parisi et al, 2011) although some have not (Pearman, Hertzog, & Gerstorf, 2014). Differences in methodology and sample characteristics may in part account for these discrepancies.…”

Behaviors and Strategies Supporting Everyday Memory in Older Adults

“…Some complaints may arise from concerns about aging among the “worried well” given that memory complaints are often more strongly correlated with depression or neuroticism than they are with memory test performance [for recent reviews, see 22, 23]. Adults’ performance on memory tasks correlates with subjective memory, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, independent of the relationship to depressive and anxious affect [e.g., 21, 24]. However, the magnitude of the relationship of subjective memory beliefs to memory performance is often rather low.…”

Výkon bilingválnych jednotlivcov pri psychodiagnostickom vyšetrení kognitívnych funkcií v ich prvom a druhom jazyku

“…osobnostné vlastnosti, pohlavie, vzdelanie, stratégia učenia, orientácia na cieľ atď. (Carr, Castel, & Knowlton, 2015;Hülür, Hertzog, Pearman, & Gerstorf, 2015, Lee, Ning, & Goh, 2014. Kormi-Nouri et al (2008) poukázali na lepšiu sémantickú i epizodickú pamäť bilingválnych v porovnaní s monolingválnymi, pričom táto výhoda sa ukázala v oboch jazykoch dvojjazyčných.…”