Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T06:51:23.713Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The effects of old age and distraction on the assessment of prospective memory in a simulated naturalistic environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2008

Robert G. Knight*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Jane Nicholls
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Nickolai Titov
Affiliation:
School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales at St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Robert G. Knight, Department of Psychology, University of Otago, Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. Phone: +64 03 479 7623; Fax: +64 03 479 8335. Email: rknight@psy.otago.ac.nz.

Abstract

Background: The ability to remember to complete future intentions, prospective memory, often begins to fail in old age. The aim of the present study was to examine the sensitivity of a computer-based procedure using naturalistic stimuli to age-related increases in forgetting under conditions of high (increased visual and auditory noise) or low distraction.

Methods: Participants were tested in a virtual shopping precinct constructed from linked photographs, sounds, and video segments. Groups of 32 older and younger persons completed two concurrent memory tasks while moving along the street. In one task, participants were given errands to complete with an accessible checklist, in the other, they were required to remember to respond to three different targets that appeared repeatedly.

Results: The results confirmed previous findings that older adults have difficulty remembering future intentions, even on a self-paced task using naturalistic stimuli, and showed that this was accentuated in noisy environments.

Conclusions: Older persons have particular difficulty remembering in noisy environments, and results from testing in the clinic may underestimate the practical memory problems experienced by older adults with mild cognitive impairments. The findings provide encouragement for the construction of computer-generated environments to measure functional deficits in cognition.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cherry, K. E. and LeCompte, D. C. 1999. Age and individual differences influence prospective memory. Psychology and Aging, 14, 6076.Google Scholar
Costa, P. T. and McCrae, R. R. 1992. Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) Professional Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Craik, F. I. M. 1986. A functional account of age differences in memory. In Klix, F. and Hagendorf, H. (eds.), Human Memory and Cognitive Capabilities: Mechanisms and Performances (pp. 409422). Amsterdam: Elsevier-North-Holland.Google Scholar
Craik, F. I. M. and Kerr, A. S. 1996. Commentary: prospective memory, aging, and lapses of intention. InBrandimonte, M., Einstein, G. O. and McDaniel, M. A. (eds.), Prospective Memory: Theory and Applications (pp. 227238). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Ellis, J. and Kvavilashvili, L. 2000. Prospective memory in 2000: past, present, and future directions. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 14, S1S9.Google Scholar
Farrimond, S. et al. 2006. The effects of aging on remembering intentions: performance on a simulated shopping task. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 20, 533555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goschke, T. and Kuhl, J. 1993. Representation of intentions: persisting activation in memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 19, 12111226.Google Scholar
Harnish, B. J. et al. 1994. Performance by normal subjects on the Shipley Hartford Institute of Living Scale. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 50, 881883.3.0.CO;2-4>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasher, L. et al. 1991. Age and inhibition. Journal of Experimental; Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17, 163169.Google Scholar
Heffernan, T. M. and Ling, J. 2001. The impact of Eysenck's extroversion-introversion personality dimension on prospective memory. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 42, 321325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henry, J. D. et al. 2004. A meta-analytic review of prospective memory and aging. Psychology and Aging, 19, 2739.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knight, R. G. et al. 2006. The effects of distraction on prospective remembering following Traumatic Brain Injury assessed in a simulated naturalistic environment. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 12, 816.Google Scholar
McDaniel, M. A. and Einstein, G. O. 2000. Strategic and automatic processes in prospective memory retrieval: a multi process framework. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 14, S127S144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDowd, J. M. and Shaw, R. J. 2000. Attention and aging: a functional perspective. In Craik, F. I. M. and Salthouse, T. A. (eds.), The Handbook of Aging and Cognition(2nd edn). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Meacham, J. A. 1988. Interpersonal relations and prospective remembering. In Gruneberg, M. M., Morris, P. E., and Sykes, R. N. (eds.), Practical Aspects of Memory: Current Research and Issues (vol. 1, pp. 354359). Chichester, U.K.: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rabbitt, P. M. A. 1965. An age decrement in the ability to ignore irrelevant information. Journal of Gerontology, 20, 233238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rendell, P. G. and Craik, F. I. M. 2000. Virtual week and actual week: age-related differences in prospective memory. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 14, S43S62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shipley, W. C. 1940. A self-administering scale for measuring intellectual impairment and deterioration. Journal of Psychology, 9, 371377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, G. et al. 2000. Prospective and retrospective memory in normal aging and dementia: a questionnaire study. Memory, 8, 311321.Google Scholar
Titov, N. and Knight, R. G. 2005. A computer-based procedure for assessing prospective remembering in cases with neurological injuries: the virtual street. Brain Injury, 00592, 315322.Google Scholar
West, R. L. and Craik, F. I. M. 1999. Age-related decline in prospective memory: the roles of cue accessibility and cue sensitivity. Psychology and Aging, 14, 264272.Google Scholar
West, R., Murphy, K. J., Armilio, M. L., Craik, F. I. M. and Stuss, D. T. 2002. Effects of time of day on age differences in working memory. Journals of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 57, 310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed