title: A meta-analytic review of prospective memory and aging.
abstract: A meta-analysis of prospective memory (PM) studies revealed that in laboratory settings younger participants outperform older participants on tests of both time- and event-based PM (rs=-.39 and -.34, respectively). Event-based PM tasks that impose higher levels of controlled strategic demand are associated with significantly larger age effects than event-based PM tasks that are supported by relatively more automatic processes (rs=-.40 vs. -.14, respectively). However, contrary to the prevailing view in the literature, retrospective memory as measured by free recall is associated with significantly greater age-related decline (r=-.52) than PM, and older participants perform substantially better than their younger counterparts in naturalistic PM studies (rs=.35 and.52 for event- and time-based PM, respectively).
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, King's College, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. j.d.henry@abdn.ac.uk
authors.forename: Julie D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: Mairi S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: MacLeod
authors.forename: Louise H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Crawford
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index