title: Bridging naturalistic and laboratory assessment of memory: the Baycrest mask fit test.
abstract: Autobiographical memory tests provide a naturalistic counterpoint to the artificiality of laboratory research methods, yet autobiographical events are uncontrolled and, in most cases, unverifiable. In this study, we capitalised on a scripted, complex naturalistic event - the mask fit test (MFT), a standardised procedure required of hospital employees - to bridge the gap between naturalistic and laboratory memory assessment. We created a test of recognition memory for the MFT and administered it to 135 hospital employees who had undertaken the MFT at various points over the past five years. Multivariate analysis revealed two dimensions defined by accuracy and response bias. Accuracy scores showed the expected relationship to encoding-test delay, supporting the validity of this measure. Relative to younger adults, older adults' memory for this naturalistic event was better than would be predicted from the cognitive ageing literature, a result consistent with the notion that older adults' memory performance is enhanced when stimuli are naturalistic and personally relevant. These results demonstrate that testing recognition memory for a scripted event is a viable method of studying autobiographical memory.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Toronto , Toronto , ON , Canada.|b Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest , Toronto , ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9465-0666
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Armson
authors.affiliation: c School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences , The University of Texas at Dallas , Dallas , TX , USA.
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abdi
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Toronto , Toronto , ON , Canada.|b Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest , Toronto , ON , Canada.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Levine
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D010564:Personnel, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012134:Respiratory Protective Devices; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Long-term memory; assessment; autobiographical memory; ecological validity; multiple correspondence analysis