Dismantling the "age-prospective memory paradox": the classic laboratory paradigm simulated in a naturalistic setting.
Previous research has identified "the age-prospective memory paradox"-that adult ageing results in reliably poorer performance on laboratory-based tasks of prospective memory (PM), but improved performance on such tasks carried out in real-life settings. We hypothesized that even in their everyday environment, older adults might be worse at PM tasks that are triggered during an experimenter-generated ongoing activity. The present study used a task that captured the key features of the classic laboratory paradigm, but which was completed in a setting that met key criteria to be considered naturalistic. In their everyday setting, participants' PM was assessed, with the cue to remember occurring either (a) during their day-to-day activities, or (b) during an experimenter-generated ongoing task. The results confirmed previous naturalistic findings, in showing that older adults (n = 28) exhibited better PM than their younger counterparts (n = 65) when prompted during their everyday activities. However, older adults were also then subsequently less likely to show effective PM during experimenter-generated ongoing activity. Reproducing the paradox within a single dataset, these data indicate that older adults can effectively act on intentions during everyday activities, but have difficulty in prospective remembering during experimenter-generated ongoing tasks.
Bailey
Phoebe E
PE
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. pbailey@psy.unsw.edu.au
Henry
Julie D
JD
Rendell
Peter G
PG
Phillips
Louise H
LH
Kliegel
Matthias
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D007753:Laboratories; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D012931:Social Environment; D013998:Time Perception; D055815:Young Adult