1
|
Rose NS, Saito JM. Naturalistic assessments in virtual reality and in real life help resolve the age-prospective memory paradox. NEUROPSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENT, AND COGNITION. SECTION B, AGING, NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITION 2024:1-38. [PMID: 38362942 DOI: 10.1080/13825585.2024.2315791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
Cognitive aging researchers have long reported "paradoxical" age differences in prospective memory (PM), with age deficits in laboratory settings and age benefits (or no deficits) in real-world settings. We propose a theoretical account that explains this "age-PM-paradox" as a consequence of both methodological factors and developmental changes in cognitive abilities and personality traits. To test this account, young and older adults performed a series of naturalistic PM tasks in the lab and real world. Age-related PM deficits were observed in both lab-based tasks where demands were implemented using virtual reality and in-person role-playing. In contrast, older adults performed equal to or better than young adults on both real-world tasks, where demands were implemented in participants' daily lives. Consistent with our proposed account, an index of these "paradoxical" effects was partially predicted by age-related differences in working memory, vigilance, agreeableness, and neuroticism, whose predictive utility varied across task settings.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nathan S Rose
- Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA
| | - Joseph M Saito
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, ON, Canada
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Menéndez-Granda M, Schmidt N, Orth M, Klink K, Horn S, Kliegel M, Peter J. The effect of loss incentives on prospective memory in healthy older adults: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial using ultra-high field fMRI. BMC Psychiatry 2023; 23:722. [PMID: 37803337 PMCID: PMC10557285 DOI: 10.1186/s12888-023-05229-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/08/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Prospective memory is important for our health and independence but declines with age. Hence, interventions to enhance prospective memory, for example by providing an incentive, may promote healthy ageing. The neuroanatomical correlates of prospective memory and the processing of incentive-related prospective memory changes in older adults are not fully understood. In an fMRI study, we will therefore test whether incentives improve prospective memory in older adults and how prospective memory is processed in the brain in general, and when incentives are provided. Since goals and interests change across adulthood, avoiding losses is becoming more important for older adults than achieving gains. We therefore posit that loss-related incentives will enhance prospective memory, which will be subserved by increased prefrontal and midbrain activity. METHODS We will include n = 60 healthy older adults (60-75 years of age) in a randomized, single-blind, and parallel-group study. We will acquire 7T fMRI data in an incentive group and a control group (n = 30 each, stratified by education, age, and sex). Before and after fMRI, all participants will complete questionnaires and cognitive tests to assess possible confounders (e.g., income, personality traits, sensitivity to reward or punishment). DISCUSSION The results of this study will clarify whether loss-related incentives can enhance prospective memory and how any enhancement is processed in the brain. In addition, we will determine how prospective memory is processed in the brain in general. The results of our study will be an important step towards a better understanding of how prospective memory changes when we get older and for developing interventions to counteract cognitive decline.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marta Menéndez-Granda
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Graduate School for Health Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Nadine Schmidt
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Graduate School for Health Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Michael Orth
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department of Neurology, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Katharina Klink
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Sebastian Horn
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Matthias Kliegel
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Swiss Centre of Expertise in Life Course Research, LIVES Centre, Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Jessica Peter
- University Hospital of Old Age Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
- Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
van de Vijver I, Brinkhof LP, de Wit S. Age differences in routine formation: the role of automatization, motivation, and executive functions. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1140366. [PMID: 37484115 PMCID: PMC10357511 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1140366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2023] [Accepted: 06/16/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Medication adherence can be vital for one's health, especially in older adults. However, previous research has demonstrated that medication adherence is negatively affected by age-related cognitive decline. In the current study we investigated whether older adults are able to compensate for this decline by relying more on the formation of efficient, automatized routines. To this end, we directly compared daily (placebo) medication adherence in a healthy sample of 68 younger (18-29 years) and 63 older adults (65-86 years) over a period of 4 weeks. We show that despite an age-related decline in cognitive functions (i.e., poorer working memory, prospective memory, task switching, and goal-directed control), older adults adhered better to a daily pill intake routine than younger adults did and, in line with our hypothesis about increased routine formation, reported higher subjective automaticity of pill intake. Across age groups, automatization of pill intake was related to intake regularity and conscientiousness, but not to individual differences in habit tendency as measured in the lab nor to explicit strategic planning. Crucially, the age-related increase in pill intake adherence was mediated by experienced automatization as well as motivation. These findings demonstrate that intact habitual processes and high motivation aid older adults in successfully forming daily routines.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Irene van de Vijver
- Habit Lab, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Lotte P. Brinkhof
- Habit Lab, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Sanne de Wit
- Habit Lab, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Haas M, Mehl MR, Ballhausen N, Zuber S, Kliegel M, Hering A. The Sounds of Memory: Extending the Age-Prospective Memory Paradox to Everyday Behavior and Conversations. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2022; 77:695-703. [PMID: 35092421 DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbac012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Around the turn of the millennium, the "age-prospective memory (PM) paradox" challenged the classical assumption that older adults necessarily evidence a marked decline in PM functioning. As previous investigations highlighted ecological validity to be a potential explanation, the present study sought to extend established approaches by using novel real-world assessment technologies to examine PM unobtrusively in everyday-life conversations. METHOD Next to laboratory PM tasks, real-life PM performance of 53 younger adults (19-32 years) and 38 older adults (60-81 years) was assessed from three sources: Over nine days, participants completed an experimenter-given naturalistic task, a diary-based approach assessing self-assigned intentions, as well as an ambulatory assessment with the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), a device that unobtrusively samples ambient sounds to detect spontaneous speech production related to (lapses in) everyday PM. RESULTS Older adults showed lower performance in laboratory PM only for the time-based task, and performed either equally well as or even better than younger adults in everyday PM. With regard to PM performance as captured in real-life ambient audio data, younger adults talked more frequently about PM than older adults, but no significant difference between younger and older adults was found for speech related to PM errors. DISCUSSION Findings confirmed older adults' preserved PM performance in everyday life across different indicators with increasing ecological validity. Furthermore, as a novel method to assess conversational PM in everyday life, the EAR opens new insights about the awareness of PM lapses and the communication of intentions in real life.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maximilian Haas
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Switzerland.,Faculty of Psychology, Swiss Distance Learning University, Brig, Switzerland
| | - Matthias R Mehl
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA
| | - Nicola Ballhausen
- Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Developmental Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands
| | - Sascha Zuber
- Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Switzerland.,Swiss National Center of Competences in Research LIVES - Overcoming vulnerability: life course perspectives, Lausanne & Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Matthias Kliegel
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Switzerland.,Swiss National Center of Competences in Research LIVES - Overcoming vulnerability: life course perspectives, Lausanne & Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Alexandra Hering
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Centre for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Switzerland.,Department of Developmental Psychology, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Abstract
Motivational and emotional changes across adulthood have a profound impact on cognition. In this registered report, we conducted an experimental investigation of motivational influence on remembering intentions after a delay (prospective memory; PM) in younger, middle-aged, and older adults, using gain- and loss-framing manipulations. The present study examined for the first time whether motivational framing in a PM task has different effects on younger and older adults' PM performance (N = 180; age range: 18-85 years) in a controlled laboratory setting. Based on lifespan theories of motivation, we assumed that the prevention of losses becomes more relevant with increasing age: We expected that older adults show relatively higher PM performance in a task with loss-related consequences following PM failure than in a task in which successful PM leads to gains. The opposite pattern of performance was expected for younger adults. The findings suggest that the relevance of reward and positive gain-related consequences for successful remembering appears to decrease with age. As hypothesised, a motivational framing × age interaction indicated that age differences in memory performance were smaller with loss-related than gain-related consequences, supporting a loss-prevention view on motivated cognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian S Horn
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | | |
Collapse
|
6
|
Horn SS, Freund AM. How Do Gain and Loss Incentives Affect Memory for Intentions Across Adulthood? J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2021; 76:711-721. [PMID: 32877530 DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbaa140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Changes in motivational orientation across adulthood affect cognitive processes. The purpose of this research was to investigate if and how motivational incentives (gains or losses) affect prospective memory for intended actions in younger, middle-aged, and older adults. METHODS The consequences of memory hits and misses and the framing of the memory tasks were experimentally manipulated between participants: In a gain-framing condition, participants accumulated rewards, dependent on the proportion of target events to which they responded accurately. In a loss-framing condition, participants received an initial endowment from which losses were deducted, dependent on the proportion of targets they missed. We measured memory accuracy, perceived task importance, and ongoing-task performance. RESULTS Gains and losses had different effects on memory across age groups: Age × Motivational Valence interactions emerged across two studies. Older adults showed relatively better memory performance to avoid losses than to achieve gains. Moreover, higher age was associated with lower memory performance (Study 1) and slower but more accurate decisions in an ongoing activity (Study 2). DISCUSSION The findings reveal that motivational incentives and the framing of consequences as gains or losses moderate the relation between age and memory performance. Older adults' memory performance may benefit when messages encourage the avoidance of losses. This may also help to design age-tailored interventions in applied settings (e.g., health-related behavior).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Alexandra M Freund
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.,University Research Priority Program "Dynamics of Healthy Aging", University of Zurich, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|