Validation of the French version of the Memory Self-Efficacy Questionnaire

Subjective memory measures: Metamemory questionnaires currently in use

Subjective memory evaluation is important for assessing memory abilities and complaints alongside objective measures. In research and clinical settings, questionnaires are used to examine perceived memory ability, memory complaints, and memory beliefs/knowledge. Although they provide a structured measure of self-reported memory, there is some debate as to whether subjective evaluation accurately reflects memory abilities. Specifically, the disconnect between subjective and objective memory measures remains a long-standing issue within the field. Thus, it is essential to evaluate the benefits and limitations of questionnaires that are currently in use. This review encompasses three categories of metamemory questionnaires: self-efficacy, complaints, and multidimensional questionnaires. Factors influencing self-evaluation of memory including knowledge and beliefs about memory, ability to evaluate memory, recent metamemory experiences, and affect are examined. The relationship between subjective and objective memory measures is explored, and considerations for future development and use of metamemory questionnaires are provided.

Is Medical Environment Detrimental to Memory? A Test of A White Coat Effect on Older People's Memory Performance

OBJECTIVES

Test if older people's memory assessment may be impacted by a medical environment and if memory self-efficacy (MSE) will moderate this effect.

METHODS

We evaluated memory performance and MSE in 27 older adults in two different settings: a (control) university research environment, or a (proxy-medical) neuropsychological examination environment.

RESULTS

The results showed a MSE × environment interaction effect on story-recall performance, with older people with low MSE performing less well in the proxy-medical situation than in the control situation and with elders with high MSE performing better in the proxy-medical situation than in the control situation. The same marginally significant effect for the word-span task was also found.

CONCLUSIONS

Testing in a medical environment undermines the memory performance of older people with low MSE and boosts performance of older people with high MSE. Clinical Implications We encourage neuropsychologists to pay attention to psychosocial determinants of older people's performance when assessing their memory abilities.

Memory Self-Efficacy and Memory Performance in Older Adults

Abstract. The present research examined the role persistence plays in mediating the positive impact of memory self-efficacy (MSE, i.e., one’s confidence in one’s own memory abilities) on older adults’ memory performance. In three studies, 81 to 264 older adults completed an MSE scale and carried out an explicit episodic memory task, during which we recorded their study time as an indicator of task persistence. We found that higher MSE was indirectly related to better memory performance through greater persistence during encoding, as measured by longer study time. Indirect effects were of medium size, with point estimates ranging from 0.64 to 0.85. This mediation effect was independent of factors that could be confounded with study time: chronological age, memory span, prior level of memory performance, episodic memory ability, and use of learning strategies (encoding strategies and self-testing). When confronted with difficult memory tasks, older adults who lack confidence in their memory abilities cease their efforts prematurely, which contributes to a decrease in their performance. Encouraging older adults to persist in the face of difficulties during encoding and retrieval may help alleviate the negative impact of low MSE on memory performance and allow researchers and clinicians to more accurately estimate older adults’ true memory abilities.

Memory self-efficacy in schizophrenia

The positive association between memory self-efficacy (MSE), defined as the beliefs about one's ability to use memory effectively, and memory performance is highly documented in the literature but has not yet been explored in schizophrenia. In the current study the relationship between MSE and objective memory measures was explored in thirty schizophrenia patients and twenty healthy controls. Compared to healthy controls, schizophrenia patients presented lower MSE, which was associated with depression. Among controls, but not patients, MSE was positively related to memory performance. This result suggests that normal relationship between MSE and memory functioning is disrupted in schizophrenia.

Subjective health and memory self-efficacy as mediators in the relation between subjective age and life satisfaction among older adults

OBJECTIVE

Perceiving oneself as younger than one's actual age functions as a self-enhancing positive illusion that promotes life satisfaction. However, no research has yet focused on the mechanisms through which a youthful subjective age could be related to higher life satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to identify the mediating role of resources, such as subjective health and memory self-efficacy, in the relation between subjective age and life satisfaction among older adults.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 250 older individuals aged from 60 to 77 years who completed measures of subjective age, subjective health, memory self-efficacy, and life satisfaction.

RESULTS

Path analysis revealed that subjective age was positively related to both subjective health and memory self-efficacy, and that subjective health and memory self-efficacy were both positively related to life satisfaction. Bootstrap procedures further indicated that subjective age has significant total and specific indirect contribution to life satisfaction through subjective health and memory self-efficacy.

DISCUSSION

This study fills a gap in existing literature and suggests that a youthful subjective age is associated with higher life satisfaction because it is related to higher evaluation of health and memory self-efficacy. It provides an initial support for a resource-based explanation of the relation between subjective age and life satisfaction.