My Memory’s Not What It Used to Be, But It’s Still Better Than Yours: Older Adults’ Memory Self-Perceptions

Indianapolis, IN

Past research suggests that adults may be able to recognize changes in their memory over time, even though they may not be accurate at describing their memory relative to other people. Our study explored older adults' self-perceptions of their memory compared either to their peer group or to themselves in the past and how accurately these self-perceptions reflect objective memory abilities. We randomly assigned 33 community-dwelling older adults (ages 60 to 96) to one of two conditions. In the other-comparison condition, participants completed a memory self-report questionnaire by comparing their memory to the memory of others. In the past-self condition, participants answered the same questionnaire items, but compared their current memory to their own memory in the past. Both versions of the questionnaire asked participants to rate their ability to remember everyday information, as well as their frequency of everyday memory failures. Higher scores reflected better self-perceived ability and fewer everyday memory failures. Participants then completed an objective memory test in which they studied a list of 25 non-categorizable words before freely recalling as many words as they could. Finally, participants completed a measure of depressive affect. We found that memory self-perceptions and memory complaints were affected by the specific comparison older adults were asked to make. Although the accuracy of memory self-perceptions was not influenced by item wording, older adults judged their memory more harshly when comparing their current memory to their past memory than when comparing themselves to others.