A scoping review of the utility of self-report and informant-report prospective memory measures

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.

From the lab to the classroom: Improving children's prospective memory in a natural setting

BACKGROUND

Laboratory-based studies have shown that children's ability to remember intentions (i.e., prospective memory; PM) can be improved by asking them to imagine performing the PM task beforehand (i.e., episodic future thinking; EFT) or to predict their PM performance. Moreover, combining the two strategies resulted in an additional improvement in children's PM performance. However, the effectiveness of these encoding strategies on real-life PM tasks is still unknown.

AIMS

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of EFT instructions, performance predictions, and of their combination on children's PM in a natural setting, namely in the classroom.

SAMPLE

Twelve classes composed by a total of 121 children (53% females) aged between seven and 9 years participated to the study.

METHODS

As a PM task, children were asked by their teachers to deliver a letter to their parents and to bring it back to school the next day. Children were divided into four groups: control, prediction, EFT, and the EFT + prediction group. Parent reports on children's everyday prospective and retrospective memory failures were also collected.

RESULTS

Results showed that encoding strategies were effective in enhancing children's PM performance. However, differences compared to previous laboratory-based findings emerged since predicting PM performance resulted to be most effective in enhancing real-life PM performance. Moreover, parent reports were related to children's PM performance.

CONCLUSIONS

These novel findings highlight the importance of studying PM interventions in natural settings in order to increase their ecological validity and inform educational practices.

Meta-prospective memory accuracy in older adults with and without suspected Mild Cognitive Impairment (sMCI)

This study examined if the relationship between generalized and task-specific appraisals of prospective memory (PM) and actual PM performance (i.e., meta-PM accuracy) differed between healthy and suspected Mild Cognitive Impairment (sMCI) older adults. Older adults recruited included 50 healthy and 31 sMCI participants from the community and an outpatient neuropsychology clinic. Data collected consisted of self-reported appraisals and task-specific predictions/postdictions of PM performance, objective PM performance, and executive functioning (EF). The sMCI group had significantly lower scores on objective PM and EF measures related to simple and complex task-switching. Moreover, sMCI participants displayed lower task-specific meta-PM accuracy in the direction of overconfidence, but they displayed relatively equivalent generalized meta-PM accuracy when compared to the healthy group. Notably, the sMCI group's task-specific inaccuracies became non-significant in relation to the healthy group on the final long-term PM tasks after exposure to metacognitive reflection on the first two PM tasks. Despite lower scores on EF measures, EF performance did not explain task-specific meta-PM differences between groups beyond neurocognitive status. Based on these data, sMCI patients may be better assisted by metacognitive calibration strategies, EF protocols, and the implementation of general compensatory memory strategies as targets for early intervention and prevention of neurocognitive decline.

Performance on a virtual environment shopping task and adaptive functioning among older adults

Neuropsychologists are often asked to evaluate patients' functional capacities, yet traditional neuropsychological tests have limited correspondence with real-world outcomes. The Virtual Environment Grocery Store (VEGS) is a virtual environment that simulates shopping tasks. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between older adults' performance on the VEGS in relation to their self-reported adaptive functioning as well as performance on a performance-based adaptive functioning measure. Older adults (n = 98; age 65-90, M = 75.82, SD = 6.27) were administered the VEGS, the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Scale (IADLS), and the Texas Functional Living Scale (TFLS). Neither premorbid functioning nor the VEGS variables were associated with self-rated adaptive functioning. However, all three VEGS variables were associated with performance-based adaptive functioning (i.e., the TFLS). Performance on the VEGS measure of correct items in the shopping cart explained 13.9% of the variance in performance on the performance-based adaptive functioning task. Whether the participant picked up the VEGS prescription explained 12.6% of the variance in performance on the performance-based adaptive functioning task. Performance on VEGS long delay free recall explained 35.1% of the variance in performance on the performance-based adaptive functioning task. These results suggest that the VEGS demonstrates value in predicting older adults' functional capacities.

I forgot that I forgot: PTSD symptom severity in a general population correlates with everyday diary-recorded prospective memory failures

Extant research suggests a complex relationship between prospective memory (PM) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity. In a general population, this relationship exists for self-report assessment but not objective, in-lab PM performance (e.g., pressing a certain key at a particular time, or when particular words appear). However, both these measurement methods have limitations. Objective, in-lab PM tasks might not represent typical everyday performance, while self-report measurement might be biased by metacognitive beliefs. Thus, we used a naturalistic diary paradigm to answer the overarching question: are PTSD symptoms associated with PM failures in everyday life? We found a small positive correlation between diary-recorded PM errors and PTSD symptom severity (r = .21). Time-based tasks (i.e., intentions completed at a particular time, or after a specified time has elapsed; r = .29), but not event-based tasks (i.e., intentions completed in response to an environmental cue; r = .08), correlated with PTSD symptoms. Moreover, although diary-recorded and self-report PM correlated, we did not replicate the finding that metacognitive beliefs underpin the PM-PTSD relationship. These results suggest that metacognitive beliefs might be particularly important for self-report PM only.

Prospective memory assessment: Scientific advances and future directions

Prospective Memory (PM), the ability to remember to realize intended actions in the future, is crucial for maintaining autonomy. Decades of research has focused on a so-called age PM paradox, where older adults outperformed younger adults on some PM tasks, but not others. Contributing to this paradox is heterogeneity in and a lack of valid assessment methods. Previous research showed a lack of convergent validity between performance-based PM and both self-report and informant-report measures. We argue that questionnaires may be relevant to obtain information regarding patients’ awareness of their PM difficulties but need to be used in conjunction with performance-based tools. Within performance-based PM tools there are also difficulties in measurement: 15–60 min experimental tasks and batteries have a good reliability but cannot usually fit in a standard clinical evaluation, while shorter PM measures have lower reliability and sensitivity. In this perspective paper, we encourage researchers to develop more ecologically valid tools. Innovative PM paradigms that allow participants to generate their own intentions and that take task costs into consideration should be developed. Future research will also need to focus on cognitive factors, personality and online evaluation, to improve PM assessment and develop ad-hoc rehabilitation programs.

"Do I Have a Memory Problem? I Can't Recall": An Evaluation of Measurement Invariance in Subjective Reporting of Memory Symptoms among Persons with and without Objective HIV-Associated Memory Impairment

OBJECTIVE

Memory symptoms and objective impairment are common in HIV disease and are associated with disability. A paradoxical issue is that objective episodic memory failures can interfere with accurate recall of memory symptoms. The present study assessed whether responses on a self-report scale of memory symptoms demonstrate measurement invariance in persons with and without objective HIV-associated memory impairment.

METHOD

In total, 505 persons with HIV completed the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ). Objective memory impairment (n = 141) was determined using a 1-SD cutoff on clinical tests of episodic memory. PRMQ measurement invariance was assessed by confirmatory factor analyses examining a one-factor model with increasing cross-group equality constraints imposed on factor loadings and item thresholds (i.e., configural, weak, and strong invariance).

RESULTS

Configural model fit indicated that identical items measured a one-factor model for both groups. Comparison to the weak model indicated that factor loadings were equivalent across groups. However, there was evidence of partial strong invariance, with two PRMQ item thresholds differing across memory impairment groups. Post hoc analyses using a 1.5-SD memory impairment cutoff (n = 77) revealed both partial weak and partial strong invariance, such that PRMQ item loadings differed across memory groups for three items.

CONCLUSIONS

The PRMQ demonstrated a robust factor structure among persons with and without objective HIV-associated memory impairment. However, on select PRMQ items, individuals with memory impairment reported observed scores that were relatively higher than their latent score, while items were more strongly associated with the memory factor in a group with greater memory impairment.

Validity and normative data of the Chinese Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) across adolescence, adults and elderly people

The Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) is a widely-used questionnaire for evaluating individuals' memory failures in everyday life. However, whether the scale is valid for different age groups and gender, and how memory complaints change with age and gender remains less clear. This study aimed to validate the self-report PRMQ in a large Chinese sample across adolescence and adulthood and investigate age-related changes and gender differences in self-report prospective memory (PM) and retrospective memory (RM). A total of 2528 healthy individuals aged from 13 to 96 completed the Chinese version of the PRMQ. Results revealed that the PM-RM correlated factor model was the best fit model with satisfactory reliability and had measurement invariance across gender and adjacent age groups. Adolescents and adults reported similar memory complaints, while older people stated more memory difficulties. Female participants reported more PM errors than male participants, but this gender difference only showed in adolescents and adults. Taken together, these findings not only support the Chinese version of the PRMQ as a valid tool for evaluating prospective and retrospective memory difficulties across gender and adjacent age groups, but also reveal age-related changes and gender difference on self-report memory.

Validation of the Prospective Memory Concerns Questionnaire (PMCQ)

Prospective memory (PM), the ability to remember to complete intended tasks, is essential for successfully completing activities of daily living. PM impairments are common in people with neuropathology such as acquired brain injury and dementia. These PM impairments affect individuals’ capabilities in key aspects of daily living including their health, safety, and independence. The Prospective Memory Concerns Questionnaire (PMCQ) was designed as a self-report measure to understand individuals’ concerns about their memory. This questionnaire may help identify issues with PM which in turn may assist clinicians in the targeted implementation of memory compensation strategies. The PMCQ was developed using Rasch and classical test methodologies, with subscales measuring frequency of forgetting behaviors, memory concerns, and retrieval failures. The current study aimed to confirm the factor structure of the PMCQ for use in adults in the general population. The study also aimed to examine relationships between the PMCQ and naturalistic performance-based measures of PM to determine how the self-report PMCQ could be used in conjunction with performance-based measures. A community dwelling sample of 558 adults completed the PMCQ, an event-based naturalistic PM task, and time-based naturalistic PM task. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) indicated that a higher order model with three subscales containing 35 items produced acceptable fit [RMSEA = 0.056 (90% CI 0.054, 0.060), SRMR = 0.062, CFI = 0.915, TLI = 0.909] The PMCQ demonstrated good internal consistency (total α = 0.95, subscales: α = 0.88–0.89). The Forgetting Behaviors subscale significantly correlated with performance on the event-based naturalistic PM task (r = −0.14, p < 0.01). The Memory Concerns and Retrieval Failures subscales did not correlate significantly with performance-based PM tasks. These findings suggest that the PMCQ may be best suited for assessing individuals’ concerns about their forgetting behaviors and identifying appropriate compensation strategies or support services. It is recommended that the PMCQ be used alongside performance-based PM tasks and other cognitive measures to comprehensively assess PM. It was concluded that the PMCQ is a suitable measure for use in adults in the general population. Further validation research of the PMCQ in general population and clinical samples will determine the measures’ sensitivity and specificity in identifying PM impairments.