How frequently do you forget in everyday life? : A diary study of prospective and retrospective memory errors in young and old healthy adults

Memory research has commonly been conducted in the laboratory, where large age effects have been observed. In contrast, research using self-report questionnaires assessing retrospective and prospective memory has shown no age effects. In the case of the Everyday Memory Questionnaire (EMQ), if anything, older people appear better. Although a diary method can give more accurate insight into everyday memory processes, there are very few diary studies of everyday memory errors. This study compares memory performance of younger (N=12, age 24-48, mean age=38.6y) and older healthy adults (N=17, age 66-88, mean age=78.6y), using telephone-based cognitive tests (COGTEL; TICS-M), a battery of self-report questionnaires, and 28-day diaries of everyday memory errors. Results will compare the number of errors committed across different age groups and types of recorded errors (classified as prospective, retrospective and absent-minded or attentional errors). In addition, all participants completed a laboratory-based prospective memory task, as part of the COGTEL. This enables us to examine age effects on prospective memory in and outside the laboratory, and provides further insight into possible mechanisms of the prospective memory and ageing paradox. The paradox refers to a contrasting pattern of age effects on prospective memory where older adults often perform worse in the laboratory but outperform young participants outside the laboratory.Peer reviewedSubmitted Versio

Everyday memory errors in Parkinson’s Disease : A study of prospective and retrospective memory errors using diaries, questionnaires and laboratory methods

The cognitive impairments that accompany Parkinson’s disease (PD) are currently under-researched, perhaps due to the more overt physical impairments associated with the illness. However, some studies have provided evidence of deficits in various memory functions in people with PD. Although these studies have provided valuable insight into the memory ability of people with PD, the vast majority have used laboratory-based experiments that are unable to reveal how these memory impairments manifest in, and affect, the everyday lives of these patients. The consequences of failures in everyday memory can range from minor annoyances to more severe circumstances such as forgetting to take medication or endangerment to self or others. We have conducted telephone-based cognitive tests (COGTEL; TICS-M), a battery of self-report questionnaires, and 28-day diaries of everyday memory errors. Results will compare the number of errors committed in PD patients (N=18 (3 male), 47-75 years old, mean age = 60.8y, mean years in education 14.4y, Hoehn and Yahr scale >= 1) compared with age-matched healthy adults (N=16 (3 male), 41-78 years old, mean age = 60.1y, mean years in education 15.0y). In addition, all participants complete a laboratory-based prospective memory task, as part of the COGTEL. We will gain insight into the frequency and types of everyday memory failures in those with PD and also look at the degree to which self-reported and validated cognitive measures correlate.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

How long should a diary be kept? : A diary study of prospective and retrospective memory errors in young and old healthy adults

Memory research has commonly been conducted in the laboratory, and by the use of self-report questionnaires assessing retrospective and prospective memory. Although a diary method can give more accurate insight into everyday memory processes, there are very few diary studies of everyday memory errors. This study added a 28-day diary-recording period to laboratory tests and self-assessment questionnaires. The 28 day period was expected to cover different aspects of life – busier and quieter periods – but initial results showed that surprisingly few memory errors were recorded over a 28 day period, yet participants claimed to have been recording the majority of memory errors experienced during this period. We suspect that participants fatigue over 28 days or start slowly because they feel they have plenty of time, and therefore record fewer errors. A second 7-day diary condition was added and results will compare the number of memory errors committed pro rata over the two diary-keeping periods.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

The frequency and cueing mechanisms of involuntary autobiographical memories while driving

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) have been typically studied with paper diaries, kept for a week or longer. However, such studies are unable to capture the true frequency of IAMs, nor the level of detail that would give new insights into the mechanisms of IAMs. To address this gap, a new audio-recording method was developed and tested on the first author who recorded 674 IAMs while driving a car on a 30-40-minute-long habitual route on 20 occasions. Results revealed very high frequency of IAMs (almost 34 per journey) that were reported more often in response to dynamic (one-off) than static cues. Moreover, a substantial number of memory chains and long-term priming of IAMs by previously encountered incidental stimuli were also recorded. Based on these results, a new theoretical model is proposed in which the occurrence of IAMs is determined by an interplay of factors at the time of the IAM, such as the type of ongoing activity and internal or external triggers, as well as different types of long-term priming. The results also have practical implications for studying mind-wandering and safety issues in driving and aircraft-flying, where periods of concentration are followed by monotony and less demanding tasks.Peer reviewe

AN EXPERIMENT IN CONTINGENT VALUATION AND SOCIAL DESIRABILITY

Social desirability (SD) represents the problem of subjects responding with social norms rather than individual values. This paper briefly surveys the SD literature and considers its relevance for contingent valuation (CV) studies. In an empirical study, undergraduate students were administered the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, as well as CV questions. High SD scores were hypothesized to imply a greater likelihood of offering a protest reason for a zero bid and to increase bids for socially desirable commodities. While all hypotheses were not supported, the empirical results suggest that SD can influence CV responses and should not be dismissed prematurely.Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Methodological Issues of Quantifying Everyday Memory Phenomena With Paper and Electronic Diaries

Capturing life as it is lived is an important goal in psychology, and diary methods are commonly used for this purpose. They capture events near the time of their occurrence and are less prone to retrospective biases associated with questionnaire, interview and survey methods. However, participants in diary studies must remember to carry the diary with them, and find it convenient to make entries in timely fashion. New approaches, replacing paper diaries with technology (e.g. personal digital assistants), can overcome forgetting to make entries and retrospective filling of data. However, until recently technology had its own problems (e.g. unreliability and cost of devices, the need for training, biases of technical competence, etc.). The research described in this dissertation arose from the anticipation that the rapid, worldwide growth of smartphone ownership would overcome many of these limitations since participant-owned smartphone diaries can eliminate associated costs and facilitate increased rates of compliance. Six diary studies were conducted on two transient cognitive phenomena. Initially, a smartphone app was developed and compared with a paper diary in the study of involuntary autobiographical memories. Although participants in the smartphone-diary condition demonstrated significantly better compliance than those in the paper-diary condition by reliably carrying their smartphones, and promptly completing diary entries in the app, they recorded significantly fewer events than paper diary users. To test that this unexpected finding was not specific to involuntary autobiographical memories, the method was tested with everyday memory failures, and the same unexpected finding was obtained. Further studies manipulated the length of diary-keeping period and demonstrated a diary entry rate reduction effect with longer diary keeping periods, an effect seen in both paper- and participant-owned smartphone-diaries. For involuntary autobiographical memories, the effect was demonstrated by comparing 1-day and 7-day diaries, and also by using a 30-40 minutelong digital audio recording method. With everyday memory failures, the effect was demonstrated by comparing 7-day and 28-day diaries. The audio recording method was used to capture involuntary autobiographical memories while driving. It was also used on a campus walk and compared with a 1-day paper diary within-subjects, finding a higher rate of recording in the shorter period, and consistency of memory counts across two modes of recording. This novel audio-recording method facilitated much more detailed analysis of involuntary memory cues and chaining and enabled the evaluation of potential instances of priming. Finally, a telephone and postal-based diary study of everyday memory failures demonstrated the feasibility of recruitment and measurement of participants remotely, which can be particularly useful with older adults. Taken together, the results of this research make a significant methodological contribution to research on transient everyday cognitive phenomena by showing that (1) care is needed when using participant-owned smartphone diaries, (2) paper diaries may be more reliable than currently given credit, and (3) diary-recording periods can be substantially reduced without compromising the quantity and the quality of data obtained. In addition, results increase our theoretical understanding of two specific phenomena studied in this dissertation: involuntary autobiographical memories and everyday memory failures. The findings indicate that involuntary memories are much more frequent than previously thought, may represent a stable characteristic of a person and, in addition to immediately present cues, can be elicited by internal memory chaining process and more distant priming of events and thoughts. Finally, the absence of age effects in the frequency and nature of recorded everyday memory failures, together with significant negative age effects in laboratory tests of memory and cognition, is a novel finding that has significant implications for research on cognitive ageing

AN EXPERIMENT IN CONTINGENT VALUATION AND SOCIAL DESIRABILITY

Social desirability (SD) represents the problem of subjects responding with social norms rather than individual values. This paper briefly surveys the SD literature and considers its relevance for contingent valuation (CV) studies. In an empirical study, undergraduate students were administered the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, as well as CV questions. High SD scores were hypothesized to imply a greater likelihood of offering a protest reason for a zero bid and to increase bids for socially desirable commodities. While all hypotheses were not supported, the empirical results suggest that SD can influence CV responses and should not be dismissed prematurely