A meta-analytic review of prospective memory and aging.
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).
Henry
Julie D
JD
School of Psychology, King's College, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom. j.d.henry@abdn.ac.uk
MacLeod
Mairi S
MS
Phillips
Louise H
LH
Crawford
John R
JR
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