Abstract
The everyday memory of a group of elderly adults was assessed using techniques developed for use with younger head-injured people (Sunderland et al., 1983). The participants completed a memory questionnaire and a daily checklist; their spouses gave their assessment using a separate questionnaire. These subjective methods showed only moderate agreement, and the questionnaire had low test-retest reliability. It appears that these methods of subjective memory assessment have little validity when used with normal elderly adults. Two positive findings did emerge: As in previous studies, a story recall test was the strongest predictor of reported memory performance; and despite a universal belief among elderly adults that their memory had deteriorated with age, very few of them felt that they were at all handicapped by forgetfulness in everyday life.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 376-84 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Journal of gerontology |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Publication status | Published - 1986 |
Keywords
- Aged
- Female
- Humans
- Intelligence Tests
- Male
- Memory
- Mental Recall
- Middle Aged
- Pattern Recognition, Automated
- Questionnaires
- Vocabulary