Can the prospective and retrospective memory questionnaire (PRMQ) predict actual prospective memory performance?

Abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between individual scores in the recently developed Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) and measures of actual prospective memory test performance. Standard laboratory time-based and event-based prospective memory tasks were administered to a sample of 87 adults from Switzerland (age: M = 44.11, SD = 18.94; 47 females). We investigated how actual prospective memory performance is related to the scores of the PRMQ. Furthermore, we examined the relationship between prospective memory performances and self-reports of general metamemory judgments (that is, beliefs about and the use of one's memory abilities). The most important finding was that the different subscales of the PRMQ seem to have a differential sensitivity in the prediction of actual task performance: Prospective memory performance was predicted by the prospective memory subscales of the PRMQ, but not by the retrospective memory subscales. Furthermore, distinct aspects of metamemory were found to relate to actual prospective memory performance and to the scores of the PRMQ, providing crossvalidation for the PRMQ. In sum, the present study extends initial reports supporting the validity of the PRMQ and provides first evidence for the utility of the PRMQ subscales in differentiating between prospective and retrospective memory task performance.