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

Andreas Ihle; Matthias Kliegel; Nicola Ballhausen; Chloé Da Silva Coelho; Maximilian Haas; Alexandra Hering; Morgane Künzi; Gianvito Laera; Greta Mikneviciute; Doriana Tinello; Sascha Zuber

doi:10.1159/000502639

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

Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2019;48(1-2):79-82. doi: 10.1159/000502639. Epub 2019 Oct 7.

Authors

Andreas Ihle^{1

2

3}, Matthias Kliegel^{4

5

6}, Nicola Ballhausen^{4

5

6}, Chloé Da Silva Coelho^{4

5

6}, Maximilian Haas^{4

5}, Alexandra Hering^{4

5

6}, Morgane Künzi^{4

5

6}, Gianvito Laera^{4

5

6}, Greta Mikneviciute^{4

5

6}, Doriana Tinello^{4

5

6}, Sascha Zuber^{4

5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Andreas.Ihle@unige.ch.
² Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, Andreas.Ihle@unige.ch.
³ Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES - Overcoming Vulnerability: Life Course Perspectives, Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland, Andreas.Ihle@unige.ch.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁵ Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Gerontology and Vulnerability, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
⁶ Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research LIVES - Overcoming Vulnerability: Life Course Perspectives, Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland.

PMID: 31590167
DOI: 10.1159/000502639

Abstract

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.

Results: Latent variable analyses showed that in both YO and OO PM was associated with memory and attentional control (but not conscientiousness). Notably, testing for moderation effects revealed that the relation between PM and attentional control was significantly stronger in YO than in OO.

Conclusion: YO may be able to better (than OO) achieve a good PM performance with good attentional control.

Keywords: Attentional control; Conscientiousness; Prospective memory; Young-old adults.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Age Factors
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Attention*
Cognition*
Female
Humans
Male
Memory, Episodic*
Mental Recall
Reaction Time
Task Performance and Analysis