Effect of aging on prospective and incidental memory

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to test the effect of aging on prospective and incidental memory. In the first study, 24 undergraduates (M = 19.71 years) and 17 Elderhostel participants (M = 69.06 years) were used to test three hypotheses: (1) Younger subjects will be superior to older subjects in incidental memory. (2) If older and younger subjects have access to external memory aids, older subjects will display significantly better prospective memory. (3) If these subjects are denied external aids, the younger subjects will exhibit better prospective memory. Hypotheses 1 and 2 were confirmed, but 3 was not. The advantage older subjects display when permitted use of memory aids could derive from better recall of the future task or higher motivation to complete the task once it is recalled. In the second experiment, 51 undergraduates (M = 18.71 years) and 55 older subjects (M = 71.87 years) recruited from a continuing education program were used to test the hypothesis that the advantage older subjects displayed in aided prospective memory over younger ones derives from better recall of the task. The results obtained were not consistent with this interpretation. In the third experiment, 22 undergraduates (M = 18.50 years) and 20 Elderhostel participants (M = 70.25 years) tested the hypothesis that the advantage older subjects enjoy in prospective memory derives from greater motivation to complete the task. This hypothesis was confirmed.

A Meta-Analytic Review of Prospective Memory and Aging.

“…These tasks include measures in which the participant is required to telephone the experimenter at a specific time over 4 weeks (Devolder, Brigham, & Pressley, 1990), 3 weeks (Poon & Schaffer, 1982), 2 weeks (Moscovitch, 1982), and 5 days (Maylor, 1990); mail postcards to the experimenter (Patton & Meit, 1993); and periodically log the time on an electronic organizer (Rendell & Thomson, 1993Sawyer, 1988). In addition, older adults tend to show better TBPM for attending appointments (Martin, 1986).…”

Prospective memory tasks related to goals and concerns are rated as more important by both young and older adults

“…A second, minor aim of our study was to examine the oftstated claim that older adults are more motivated to perform prospective memory tasks than younger adults, that is, that age is positively correlated with perceived task importance (e.g., Patton andMeit 1993, Phillip et al 2008;Rendell and Craik 2000). This higher motivation in older adults might be expected for several reasons.…”

“…Similarly, Ihle et al (2012) also found no age-related difference in importance ratings for real prospective memory tasks, although again their young adult sample consisted of ''mostly'' undergraduate students. Thus, research has shown two null results for age effects on importance ratings for real-life prospective memory tasks despite prior demonstrations of the effect for experimenterassigned tasks (e.g., Kvavilashvili and Fisher 2007;Patton and Meit 1993). Therefore, additional research on age-related differences on real-life prospective memory tasks is warranted.…”

“…For example, compared to young adults, older adults score higher on levels of conscientiousness (e.g., Soto et al 2011) and report more goals focused on generativity (e.g., Do more work on quilts for the needy; Penningroth and Scott, 2012). Studies using experimenter-assigned naturalistic tasks (e.g., mailing postcards or making a phone call) have found that older adults rate the task as more important than younger adults do (e.g., Kvavilashvili and Fisher 2007;Patton and Meit 1993). In fact, motivational differences between young adults and older adults have been posited as a key factor in explaining the ''age prospective memory paradox'' (e.g., Phillip et al 2008).…”

The relationship between prospective memory, working memory and self-rated memory performance in individuals with intellectual disability

“…Prospective memory represents a unique cognitive ability (Salthouse, 2004), that depends on an interplay between the individual's cognitive abilities (cf. Smith, 2003), motivation (e.g., Patton & Meit, 1993), support and the situation requiring a prospective memory. Adaptive behaviour is used in definitions of (a) intellectual disability (American Association on Mental Retardation, 2002) and of (b) intelligence (Sternberg & Salter, 1982).…”