Prospective Memory In Older Adults Research Articles

The Acute Effects of Focused Attention and Open Monitoring Meditations on Prospective Memory in Older Adults

The Acute Effects of Focused Attention and Open Monitoring Meditations on Prospective Memory in Older Adults

The effect of loss incentives on prospective memory in healthy older adults: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial using ultra-high field fMRI

BackgroundProspective memory is important for our health and independence but declines with age. Hence, interventions to enhance prospective memory, for example by providing an incentive, may promote healthy ageing. The neuroanatomical correlates of prospective memory and the processing of incentive-related prospective memory changes in older adults are not fully understood. In an fMRI study, we will therefore test whether incentives improve prospective memory in older adults and how prospective memory is processed in the brain in general, and when incentives are provided. Since goals and interests change across adulthood, avoiding losses is becoming more important for older adults than achieving gains. We therefore posit that loss-related incentives will enhance prospective memory, which will be subserved by increased prefrontal and midbrain activity.MethodsWe will include n = 60 healthy older adults (60–75 years of age) in a randomized, single-blind, and parallel-group study. We will acquire 7T fMRI data in an incentive group and a control group (n = 30 each, stratified by education, age, and sex). Before and after fMRI, all participants will complete questionnaires and cognitive tests to assess possible confounders (e.g., income, personality traits, sensitivity to reward or punishment).DiscussionThe results of this study will clarify whether loss-related incentives can enhance prospective memory and how any enhancement is processed in the brain. In addition, we will determine how prospective memory is processed in the brain in general. The results of our study will be an important step towards a better understanding of how prospective memory changes when we get older and for developing interventions to counteract cognitive decline.

The relationship between depressive symptoms, metamemory, and prospective memory in older adults

ABSTRACT Introduction Depression has been associated with impairments in different cognitive domains in younger adults, including prospective memory (PM; the ability to plan and execute intended actions in the future). However, it is still not well documented nor understood whether depression is also associated with impaired PM in older adults. The current study aimed to examine the association between depressive symptoms and PM in young-old and old-old adults, and to understand the potential influence of underlying factors, such as age, education, and metamemory representations (one’s belief about their memory abilities). Method Data of 394 older adults from the Vivre-Leben-Vivere study were included in the analyses (Mage = 80.10 years, SD = 6.09; range = 70–98 years). Results Bayesian ANCOVA revealed a 3-way interaction between depressive symptoms, age, and metamemory representations, indicating that the association between depressive symptoms and PM performance depended on age and metamemory representations. In the lower depressive symptoms group, old-old adults with higher metamemory representations performed as well as young-old adults independently of their metamemory representations. However, in the higher depressive symptoms group, old-old adults with higher metamemory representations performed more poorly than young-old adults with higher metamemory representations. Conclusion This study indicates that metamemory representations may buffer the negative effect of age on PM performance only in old-old individuals with low depressive symptoms. Importantly, this result provides new insight into the mechanisms underlying the association between depressive symptoms and PM performance in older adults as well as into potential interventions.

The Role of Non-Cognitive Factors in Prospective Memory in Older Adults

A key neuro-cognitive function that promotes autonomy and everyday functioning in old age is prospective memory (PM), defined as the capacity to remember to carry out intentions in the future. This study aimed at understanding if non-cognitive factors of metacognition and motivation are related to event-based and time-based laboratory PM, as well as to naturalistic PM in older adults, above and beyond the influences of neuropsychological determinants. We applied regression analyses predicting individual differences in classical PM tasks, in a sample of 99 healthy older participants (aged 64–88 years). Results indicated that metacognition, measured as memory self-efficacy and perceived competence in cognitive tasks, was related to laboratory time-based PM. Consistency of interests, a motivational factor, was associated with naturalistic PM. None of the non-cognitive factors related to event-based PM. Our study underlines the importance of considering non-cognitive characteristics when evaluating PM capacity, a key component of cognitive aging.

The effects of implementation intentions on prospective memory in young and older adults.

Prospective memory (PM) is the ability to perform a planned action at a future time, while carrying on with other unrelated tasks. Implementation Intentions (II) is a promising metacognitive strategy for improving PM in older adults, though its generalization and longer-term effects are not well-understood. We examined the effects of II on PM in 48 community-dwelling older adults (77% female, Mage = 71.52) and 59 young adults (75% female, Mage = 19.86). Participants were randomly allocated to a conventional instruction or II group and administered a laboratory-based PM task in the first session. In the second session, participants returned to complete a similar but new laboratory-based PM task and an ecological PM task without prompts to use a strategy. We found strong age effects on PM performance whereby older adults performed worse than young adults across all PM tasks. While the overall facilitation effect of II was not statistically significant, there was a trend that this strategy facilitated PM performance on the laboratory-based PM task in the first session for older adults with a medium sized effect (d = 0.37). The generalization and longer-term effect of II were not significant for either the similar laboratory-based or the ecological PM task. These results suggest that a single-session II intervention may not be sufficient to elicit transfer to other similar new PM tasks in healthy populations.

Subjective cognitive decline disrupts aspects of prospective memory in older adults with HIV disease

ABSTRACT Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is a risk factor for dementia that may occur at higher rates in people with HIV (PWH). Prospective memory (PM) is an aspect of cognition that may help us better understand how SCD impacts daily life. Paricipants were 62 PWH aged ≥ 50 years and 33 seronegative individuals. SCD was operationalized as normatively elevated cognitive symptoms on standardized questionnaires, but with normatively unimpaired performance-based cognition and no current affective disorders. PM was measured with the Comprehensive Assessment of Prospective Memory (CAPM), the Cambridge Test of Prospective Memory (CAMPROMPT), and an experimental computerized time-based PM task. A logistic regression revealed that older PWH had a three-fold increased likelihood for SCD. Among the PWH, SCD was associated with more frequent PM symptoms and poorer accuracy on the time-based scale of the CAMPROMPT. These findings suggest that SCD disrupts PM in older PWH.

Acute psychosocial stress impairs intention initiation in young but not older adults

Acute psychosocial stress has been shown to impair memory and cognitive control in young adults. So far, only very little empirical research is available concerning possible adult age differences in acute stress effects on cognition in general and cognitive control in particular. Accordingly, the present study set out to test these effects in a controlled laboratory setting comparing performance in a prospective memory task requiring the deployment of proactive cognitive control to successfully implement intentions. Sixty-six young (19–34 years) and 57 older adults (60–82 years) were either exposed to an established psychosocial stress procedure (Trier Social Stress Test) or an active control condition. Stress responses were measured on a fine-grained level across the entire procedure using subjective and physiological stress markers. Results suggest that the stress induction was equally successful in both age groups. While stress impaired prospective memory ability in young adults, it did not affect performance in the older adults. In particular, young adults under acute stress were more likely to completely fail the initiation of the prospective memory task resulting in zero performance. The missing stress effect on prospective memory in older adults is in line with previous studies examining broader mood effects on PM and suggests the exciting possibility that increasing age may act as a resilience factor against deterioration of cognitive control in emotionally challenging situations. Author notesWe thank Florence Caccia, Marta Guidotti, Nikol Hiller, Nada Kojovic, Raphaëlle Martin-Casas and Clémence Voirin for assistance with data collection, Robert Miller for advice concerning the data analyses and Antje Petzold, Jana Strahler and Moritz Walser for their advice regarding study and manuscript preparation. Preparation of this manuscript was funded by a grant (KL2303/5-1) from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) to MK and CK.

The effects of combined cognitive training on prospective memory in older adults with mild cognitive impairment

This study aimed to assess the effects of combined cognitive training on prospective memory ability of older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A total of 113 participants were divided into a control group and three intervention groups. Over three months, the control group received only community education without any training, whereas for the first six weeks, an executive function training group received executive function training, a memory strategy training group received semantic encoding strategy training, and the combined cognitive training group received executive function training twice a week for the first six weeks, and semantic encoding strategy training twice a week for the next six weeks. The combined cognitive training group showed improvement on the objective neuropsychological testing (Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale). The memory strategy training group showed improvement on the self-evaluation scales (PRMQ-PM). Combined cognitive training improved the prospective memory and cognitive function of older adults with MCI.

Effectiveness of a Visual Imagery Training Program to Improve Prospective Memory in Older Adults with and without Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Study

ABSTRACT Prospective memory (PM) problems in aging and, to a greater extent, in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), compromise functional independence. This study examined the effectiveness of a cognitive training program based on visual imagery to improve PM among older adults with and without MCI. Participants were older adults, 24 with MCI and 24 cognitively healthy (HOA). Half of them (12 MCI and 12 HOA) were randomly assigned to the PM training program, the other half to the no-training control group. All participants also completed a pre- and post-test evaluation, including neuropsychological tests, questionnaires, and the Ecological Test of Prospective Memory (TEMP). There was no significant effect of the intervention on the TEMP total, event-based or time-based scores for either the MCI or HOA groups. However, the trained MCI group committed fewer false alarms (i.e., more efficient identification of prospective cues) in the event-based condition of the TEMP at post-test. On the other hand, all trained participants performed better than control participants on retrospective memory tests, which suggests that visual imagery-based training is more effective to improve retrospective memory than PM. Possible explanations for these results are explored.

Improving Prospective Memory Performance in Community-dwelling Older Adults: Goal Management Training and Implementation Intentions

ABSTRACT Aim: The present study tested a compensatory executive intervention for prospective memory (goal management training) for the first time in older adults. Prospective memory (the ability to remember and execute a task in the future) declines with age, with significant implications for older adults’ activities of daily living and quality of life. Prospective memory interventions have focused primarily on the retrospective component of prospective memory (e.g., implementation intentions). However, executive dysfunction is also implicated in age-related prospective memory decline. Methods: Community-dwelling older adults were randomly allocated to receive goal management training, implementation intentions or no intervention. Prospective memory was assessed before and after the intervention with a well-validated laboratory-based prospective memory measure. Results: Contrary to predictions, neither goal management training nor implementation intentions were successful at improving prospective memory in healthy older adults. Participants who received goal management training were more likely to have difficulty comprehending the intervention. Post-hoc analyses suggested implementation intentions improved prospective memory specifically for participants with poorer baseline prospective memory. Conclusions: These results represent important cautionary findings about the possible limitations of goal management training to improve prospective memory in older adults. Future research should also consider the role of baseline prospective memory ability in affecting response to compensatory intervention.

The influence of subjective cognitive decline on prospective memory over 5 years.

Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is an important area of research within older populations, for whom prospective memory (PM) functions as a crucial part of daily life. Little is known about change in PM, following reports of SCD. This study examines longitudinal naturalistic PM in older adults with high and low levels of SCD. Ninety-nine community-dwelling older adults were revisited after 5 to 6 years, to examine the role of baseline SCD (measured as reported memory decline from young adulthood) on episodic and habitual PM change. Episodic PM was measured by the message task and habitual PM by a time-stamped button-pressing task across 2 weeks. SCD status was not associated with episodic PM, with performance declining over time across both groups, η2 = .03, 95% CI [.11, .61]. Conversely, for habitual PM, there was a significant Group × Time interaction, η2 = .07, 95% CI [-.95, -.06], with people reporting high SCD demonstrating better baseline performance and declining over time, whereas low SCD remained stable. Older adults with SCD demonstrated greater decline in habitual PM, suggesting these tasks may be more sensitive to the effects of SCD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Enhancing cue salience improves aspects of naturalistic time-based prospective memory in older adults with HIV disease.

Older persons living with HIV (PLWH) disease commonly experience failures of time-based prospective memory (PM) in their daily lives. This study examined the benefits of providing strategic supports at encoding, monitoring, and cue detection for naturalistic time-based PM among older PLWH. Participants included 116 older PLWH and 48 seronegatives who completed a baseline neuropsychological evaluation (see Woods et al., 2020), including a laboratory PM experiment that paralleled the design of the current naturalistic study. The naturalistic time-based PM task required participants to press a button on a portable PM response box 4 times per day for 1 month. PLWH were randomly assigned to an unsupported control condition or to an experimental group in which strategic processing was supported at encoding (implementation intentions and visualization), monitoring (content-free cuing), and/or cue detection (auditory alarm). The seronegative participants were all assigned to the unsupported control group. In a model adjusting for age and affective disorders, PLWH who received all three supports in combination demonstrated moderately better naturalistic time-based PM accuracy as compared with PLWH controls. Both the cue detection and combination conditions were associated with markedly more precise response timing on the naturalistic time-based PM task. Supported PM accuracy as measured in the laboratory was positively associated with naturalistic PM accuracy among PLWH in the experimental groups. Providing strategic supports to enhance the cue salience of naturalistic time-based PM tasks may improve both the accuracy and timing with which older PLWH remember to perform time-based intentions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Sleep disruption explains age-related prospective memory deficits: implications for cognitive aging and intervention

ABSTRACTThe high prevalence of sleep disruption among older adults may have implications for cognitive aging, particularly for higher-order aspects of cognition. One domain where sleep disruption may contribute to age-related deficits is prospective memory—the ability to remember to perform deferred actions at the appropriate time in the future. Community-dwelling older adults (55–93 years, N = 133) undertook assessment of sleep using actigraphy and participated in a laboratory-based prospective memory task. After controlling for education, sleep disruption (longer awakenings) was associated with poorer prospective memory. Additionally, longer awakenings mediated the relationship between older age and poorer prospective memory. Other metrics of sleep disruption, including sleep efficiency and wake after sleep onset, were not related to prospective memory, suggesting that examining the features of individual wake episodes rather than total wake time may help clarify relationships between sleep and cognition. The mediating role of awakening length was partially a function of greater depression and poorer executive function (shifting) but not retrospective memory. This study is among the first to examine the association between objectively measured sleep and prospective memory in older adults. Furthermore, this study is novel in suggesting sleep disruption might contribute to age-related prospective memory deficits; perhaps, with implications for cognitive aging more broadly. Our results suggest that there may be opportunities to prevent prospective memory decline by treating sleep problems.

Intraindividual variability in neurocognitive performance is associated with time-based prospective memory in older adults

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Older adults demonstrate poorer prospective memory (PM) performance than younger adults, particularly for time-based cues and other strategically demanding PM tasks. Intraindividual variability (IIV) in neurocognitive test performance is an index of cognitive control that may be related to the execution of strategically demanding PM tasks. Method: Participants included 194 older Australian adults (age 50 to 88 years) who completed the Memory for Intentions Screening Test (MIST), the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ), and clinical measures of executive functions. A measure of naturalistic time-based PM was also administered, in which participants were asked to call the examiner 24 hours after their appointment to report how many hours they slept. IIV was calculated as the mean-adjusted coefficient of variation (CoV) across subtests of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Results: IIV was significantly associated with time-based PM in the laboratory, independent of demographics. Additionally, IIV significantly predicted performance on a naturalistic time-based PM trial, independent of demographics and chronic medical conditions. IIV was not related to event-based laboratory PM or self-reported PM symptoms in daily life. Clinical measures of executive functions were similarly associated with time-based PM and the naturalistic PM task, but not with event-based PM or subjective PM symptoms.Conclusions: These results indicate that cognitive control, as indexed by IIV in neurocognitive performance, may play a role in naturalistic PM, as well as in highly strategic, but not automatic, laboratory-based PM among older adults.

Four-Week Strategy-Based Training to Enhance Prospective Memory in Older Adults: Targeting Intention Retention Is More Beneficial than Targeting Intention Formation

Background: So far, training of prospective memory (PM) focused on very short instances (single sessions) and targeted the intention-formation phase only. Objective: We aimed to compare the effectiveness of 2 different 4-week strategy-based PM training types, namely imagery training (targeting the encoding of the PM intention in the intention-formation phase) versus rehearsal training (targeting the maintenance of the PM intention in the intention-retention phase) in older adults. Methods: We used a 4-week training protocol (8 sessions in total, 2 sessions per week). From the 44 participants, 21 were randomly assigned to the imagery training (vividly imagining a mental picture to memorize the connection between the PM cue words and related actions during intention formation) and 23 to the rehearsal training (rehearsing the PM cue words during intention retention). The criterion PM task was assessed before and after the training. Results: Comparing the effectiveness of both training types, we found a significant time by training type interaction on PM accuracy in terms of PM cue detection, F(1, 42) = 6.07, p = 0.018, η²_p = 0.13. Subsequent analyses revealed that the rehearsal training was more effective in enhancing PM accuracy in terms of PM cue detection than the imagery training. Conclusion: Strategy-based PM training in older adults targeting the maintenance of the PM intention in the intention-retention phase may be more effective in enhancing PM accuracy in terms of PM cue detection than the strategy targeting the encoding of the PM intention in the intention-formation phase. This suggests that for successful prospective remembering, older adults may need more support to keep the PM cues active in memory while working on the ongoing task than to initially encode the PM intention.

Psychometric properties of the Actual Week test: a naturalistic prospective memory task

Objective: Prospective memory is the ability to ‘remember to remember’ and a facet of memory important to everyday functioning. For older adults, prospective memory slips are a common concern. In the present study, we conducted an initial validation of a paper-and-pencil adaptation of the Actual Week test, and reported on internal consistency, inter-rater and test-retest reliability, convergent and divergent validity, as well as veridicality of the task. Method: Fifty-eight healthy, community-dwelling older adults were recruited from a larger randomized controlled trial and tested at baseline. The Actual Week test was a naturalistic five-day prospective memory task where participants were assigned eight hypothetical tasks to remember per day for five days. Tasks were either time-cued or event-cued and regular (i.e. occurring daily) or irregular (i.e. varied each day). The proportion of tasks that were recorded as on time and accurate was used as the primary measure of performance. Results: The Actual Week test had good internal consistency (Kuder–Richardson: r > .8), intra-test (intraclass correlation: α > .9) and test-retest reliability (r = .76). There was also evidence for convergent and divergent validity. Task performance was associated with age, but not years of education or sex. Conclusion: The Actual Week test demonstrated strong psychometric qualities and promising evidence for validity as a performance-based measure of everyday prospective memory in older adults. Avenues for future studies include extending the evidence for convergent validity and evaluating feasibility and utility with other clinical populations.

Cognitive and neural plasticity in older adults' prospective memory following training with the Virtual Week computer game.

Prospective memory (PM) – the ability to remember and successfully execute our intentions and planned activities – is critical for functional independence and declines with age, yet few studies have attempted to train PM in older adults. We developed a PM training program using the Virtual Week computer game. Trained participants played the game in 12, 1-h sessions over 1 month. Measures of neuropsychological functions, lab-based PM, event-related potentials (ERPs) during performance on a lab-based PM task, instrumental activities of daily living, and real-world PM were assessed before and after training. Performance was compared to both no-contact and active (music training) control groups. PM on the Virtual Week game dramatically improved following training relative to controls, suggesting PM plasticity is preserved in older adults. Relative to control participants, training did not produce reliable transfer to laboratory-based tasks, but was associated with a reduction of an ERP component (sustained negativity over occipito-parietal cortex) associated with processing PM cues, indicative of more automatic PM retrieval. Most importantly, training produced far transfer to real-world outcomes including improvements in performance on real-world PM and activities of daily living. Real-world gains were not observed in either control group. Our findings demonstrate that short-term training with the Virtual Week game produces cognitive and neural plasticity that may result in real-world benefits to supporting functional independence in older adulthood.

Naturalistic prospective memory in older adults: Predictors of performance on a habitual task

Age-related difficulties in episodic prospective memory (PM) are common. However, little is known about habitual PM, which involves remembering to carry out intended actions that are regular and repeated. This is important for many health-related tasks and for maintaining independence in daily living activities. This study investigates, in older people, the predictors of habitual PM performance in a naturalistic setting. A group of 191 community-based, older adults (aged 65–89 years) wore an actigraph over two weeks. The habitual PM task involved pressing a button twice daily (Bed-time, Rise-time) on the actigraph. Accuracy of response was calculated for Bed-time and Rise-time, determined by light, movement, and diary data. The contribution of retrospective memory and executive function to PM performance was assessed. PM was more accurate at Bed-time compared to Rise-time (p < .01), and better in the first compared to the second week (p < .01). Retrospective memory contributed small but significant unique variance (β = .24) to PM accuracy. For older adults living in the community, both contextual factors (e.g., time of day) and retrospective memory are important for individuals’ ability to remember to perform daily tasks. This is relevant when planning interventions for maintaining independent living in ageing.

Emotional valence differentially affects encoding and retrieval of prospective memory in older adults

Studies manipulating emotional valence in prospective memory (PM) have so far revealed inconsistent results. In the present study, two experiments were conducted to systematically disentangle the effects of varying emotional valence in the encoding versus retrieval phase of PM in older adults. Results showed that, while cue valence at retrieval had no influence on PM performance, at encoding both positive and negative valence resulted in reduced PM performance. Findings suggest that emotional valence may have an influence on mnemonic processes at encoding rather than modifying cue detection in aging.

Implementation Intentions Improve Prospective Memory and Inhibition Performances in Older Adults: The Role of Visualization

SummaryImplementation intentions have been shown to be a very effective strategy in improving prospective memory in older adults. However, their efficacy in improving inhibition has never been assessed in aging. We thus examined the efficacy of implementation intentions in a prospective memory task and an inhibition task in 87 older participants. Following a crossover design, half of the participants were instructed to form an implementation intention in the prospective memory task, the other half in the inhibition task. The moderating role of working memory, visualization and verbalization habits, and impulsivity were also assessed. Regression analyses revealed that for both tasks, participants benefited from implementation intentions but only if they were used to using visual strategies in daily life. The efficacy of implementation intentions was not moderated by working memory, impulsivity, or the use of verbal strategies in everyday life. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.