Age- and task-setting-related performance predictions in prospective memory: Can metacognition explain the age-prospective memory paradox?

This study explored the role of metacognition in the so-called "age-prospective memory (PM) paradox" by investigating the accuracy of younger and older adults' predictions of their future PM performance in time-based tasks performed across laboratory and naturalistic settings. Metacognitive monitoring was assessed by asking participants to make judgments-of-learning (JOLs) on an item level for both the prospective (remembering that something has to be done) and retrospective (remembering what to do) components of PM. In terms of PM performance, the results for the prospective component revealed an age deficit in the laboratory-based task and an age benefit in the naturalistic task, in line with the age-PM paradox.

A focus group study for the design of a web-based tool for improving problem-solving in older adults.

The development of easily accessible and usable social and cognitive enhancement trainings is becoming a priority to reduce the impact of aging on quality of life. Since most activities of daily living (e.g.

Adversity specificity and life period exposure on cognitive aging.

This study set out to examine the role of different adversities experienced at different life course stages on cognitive aging (i.e., level and change).

Adult age differences in the psychophysiological response to acute stress.

Age-related differences in the psychophysiology of the acute stress response are poorly understood given the limited number of studies and the high heterogeneity of findings. The present study contributes by investigating age differences in both the psychological and physiological responses to acute stress in a sample of healthy younger (N = 50; 18-30; M = 23.06; SD = 2.

Higher levels of neuroticism in older adults predict lower executive functioning across time: the mediating role of perceived stress.

Neuroticism has been associated with individual differences across multiple cognitive functions. Yet, the literature on its specific association with executive functions (EF) in older adults is scarce, especially using longitudinal designs. To disentangle the specific influence of neuroticism on EF and on coarse cognitive functioning in old adulthood, respectively, we examined the relationship between neuroticism, the Trail Making Test (TMT) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in a 6-year longitudinal study using Bayesian analyses.

Cumulative life course adversity, mental health, and cognition in the UK biobank.

The association between adversity and cognition varies according to the specific adversity, when the adversity was experienced, and the cognitive domains investigated. Disentangling the effect of adversity and the underlying mechanistic pathway is therefore difficult. The association between adversity (i.

In Older Adults, Perceived Stress and Self-Efficacy Are Associated with Verbal Fluency, Reasoning, and Prospective Memory (Moderated by Socioeconomic Position).

Despite evidence that stress relates negatively to cognitive functioning in older adults, little is known how appraisal of stress and socioeconomic meso-level factors influence different types of cognitive functions in older adults. Here, we assess the relationship between perceived stress (PSS scale) and a battery of cognitive functions, including prospective memory in 1054 older adults (65+). A moderator analysis assessed whether this relationship varies with neighborhood socioeconomic status using an area-based measure of Socioeconomic Position (SEP).

Online assessment of cognitive functioning across the adult lifespan using the eCOGTEL: a reliable alternative to laboratory testing.

Unlabelled: As the population ages, risks for cognitive decline threaten independence and quality of life of older adults. Classically, psychological assessment tools that evaluate cognitive functioning are administered in face-to-face laboratory sessions, which are time- and resource-consuming. The present study set out to examine whether the eCOGTEL-an online adaptation of the Cognitive Telephone Screening Instrument (COGTEL; Kliegel et al.

Does older adults' cognition particularly suffer from stress? A systematic review of acute stress effects on cognition in older age.

This literature review provides the first comprehensive qualitative and quantitative systematic synthesis of acute laboratory stress effects on older adults' cognition by specifying the direction and magnitude of those effects both overall and for different cognitive processes separately. A systematic literature search was performed, and effect sizes estimated whenever possible. We found meta-analytical evidence that stress has negative effects on older adults' verbal fluency (g = -0.

The Geneva Space Cruiser: a fully self-administered online tool to assess prospective memory across the adult lifespan.

The current study aimed to examine whether the Geneva Space Cruiser - a new online adaptation of the Cruiser - represents a valid, reliable and useful tool to assess prospective memory (PM) across the adult lifespan via fully self-administered online testing. Therefore, an adult lifespan sample of 252 adults (19-86 years old) performed the Geneva Space Cruiser in the laboratory and online, at home, and also performed a more traditional laboratory PM task. A second sample of 224 young adults (19-35 years old) participated in a test-retest online assessment of the Geneva Space Cruiser.

Do executive functions explain older adults' health-related quality of life beyond event-based prospective memory?

Previous work has shown that event-based prospective memory (EBPM) predicted health-related quality of life (HrQoL). In the present study, we aimed to examine whether the relationship between EBPM and HrQoL extended to life satisfaction, and whether it persisted after controlling for other cognitive functions related to EBPM, namely executive functions and retrospective memory. We tested two models using structural equation modeling with latent variables in a sample of older adults.

Harmonizing neuropsychological assessment for mild neurocognitive disorders in Europe.

Introduction: Harmonized neuropsychological assessment for neurocognitive disorders, an international priority for valid and reliable diagnostic procedures, has been achieved only in specific countries or research contexts.

Methods: To harmonize the assessment of mild cognitive impairment in Europe, a workshop (Geneva, May 2018) convened stakeholders, methodologists, academic, and non-academic clinicians and experts from European, US, and Australian harmonization initiatives.

Results: With formal presentations and thematic working-groups we defined a standard battery consistent with the U.

The Relationship between Life Course Socioeconomic Conditions and Objective and Subjective Memory in Older Age.

While objective memory performance in older adults was primarily shown to be affected by education as indicator of life course socioeconomic conditions, other life course socioeconomic conditions seem to relate to subjective memory complaints. However, studies differ in which life course stages were investigated. Moreover, studies have explored these effects in an isolated way, but have not yet investigated their unique effect when considering several stages of the life course simultaneously.

Social Robot Interventions for People with Dementia: A Systematic Review on Effects and Quality of Reporting.

Background: Using non-pharmacological interventions is a current approach in dementia care to manage responsive behaviors, to maintain functional capacity, and to reduce emotional stress. Novel technologies such as social robot interventions might be useful to engage people with dementia in activities and interactions as well as to improve their cognitive, emotional, and physical status.

Objective: Assessing the effects and the quality of reporting of social robot interventions for people with dementia.

I could do it now, but I'd rather (forget to) do it later: examining links between procrastination and prospective memory failures.

Prospective memory (PM) represents the ability to remember to perform planned actions after a certain delay. As previous studies suggest that even brief task-delays can negatively affect PM performance, the current study set out to examine whether procrastination (intentionally delaying task execution despite possible negative consequences) may represent a factor contributing to PM failures. Specifically, we assessed procrastination (via a standardized questionnaire as well as an objective behavioral measure) and PM failures (via a naturalistic PM task) in 92 young adults.

Interactional Effects Between Relational and Cognitive Reserves on Decline in Executive Functioning.

Objectives: The present study set out to investigate associations of cognitive reserve (as indicated by education) and relational reserve (as indicated by the family network size and indices of emotional support) to decline in executive functioning over 6 years as measured by changes in Trail Making Test (TMT) completion time in older adults and whether education and network size interacted with age and sex as covariates with respect to this longitudinal association.

Method: We analyzed data from 897 participants tested on TMT parts A and B in two waves 6 years apart. The mean age in the first wave was 74.

Prospective memory errors in everyday life: does instruction matter?

Previous research on prospective memory (PM, the ability to remember executing an intention in the future) suggests that PM errors constitute the majority of all everyday memory errors in younger adults. However, no study so far has investigated this ratio from an ageing perspective, nor examined whether different instructions may influence PM error reporting. In the present study, 64 younger and 64 older adults completed a 5-day diary on PM, memory and cognition errors following different reporting instructions: participants had to either focus on (1) PM errors only, (2) any daily memory errors (prospective or retrospective) or (3) any kind of cognitive error.

Investigating prospective memory via eye tracking: No evidence for a monitoring deficit in older adults.

Prospective memory (PM) refers to remembering to perform intended actions in the future. Older adults in particular have been shown to be negatively affected by PM tasks that require a high amount of attentional resources (i.e.

Prospective Memory Relates to Attentional Control: Differential Patterns in Old Age.

Aims: We investigated the associations of prospective memory (PM) with memory, attentional control, and conscientiousness and whether they differed between young-old (YO) and old-old adults (OO).

Methods: We analyzed data from 562 older adults (mean = 80.04 years) who were tested on four PM tasks, memory (immediate and delayed cued recall), attentional control (letter and category fluency), and reported conscientiousness.

Stress and prospective memory: What is the role of cortisol?

Studies investigating effects of acute stress on Prospective Memory (PM) so far yielded heterogeneous findings. Although results were commonly attributed to stress-induced changes in cortisol, past research did not disentangle effects of cortisol from the effects of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activation and cognitive reappraisal. The present study therefore aimed at investigating the mere effect of cortisol on PM tasks that differently involve prefrontal brain regions (nonfocal vs.

Examining the role of rehearsal in old-old adults' working memory.

We investigated the role of rehearsal in verbal working memory (WM) and whether WM capacity can be improved by a rehearsal instruction in very old age. In two experiments, we tested a total of 78 old-old adults (75 years and above) in one experimental session consisting of three assessment phases. First, participants worked on three different WM span tasks to assess their baseline performance.

Distinct effects of cognitive versus somatic anxiety on cognitive performance in old age: the role of working memory capacity.

The adverse effects of anxiety on cognition are widely recognized. According to Attentional Control Theory, worry (i.e.