Factors Explaining Age-Related Prospective Memory Performance Differences: A Meta-analysis

Marta Menéndez-Granda, Nadine Schmidt, Gianvito Laera, Annick Clenin, Matthias Kliegel, Michael Orth and Jessica Peter

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2025, vol. 80, issue 6, 154-174

Abstract: ObjectivesThe age-prospective memory paradox states that younger adults perform better than older adults in laboratory tasks, whereas the opposite has been observed for naturalistic tasks. These terms insufficiently characterize tasks and task settings. We therefore revisited the age-prospective memory paradox using a newly developed taxonomy to better understand how task characteristics or task settings contribute to age-related differences in performance.MethodsWe conducted a meta-analysis of 138 studies, classifying prospective memory tasks according to our newly developed taxonomy. The taxonomy included 9 categories that considered how close any task or task setting was to daily life.ResultsWhen categorizing relevant studies with this taxonomy, we found that older adults did better than younger adults in “close to real-life” tasks done at home and, particularly, in to-do lists and diary tasks. However, they did worse in “far from real-life” tasks done in naturalistic environments or in simulations of real-life tasks in a laboratory.DiscussionResults of this meta-analysis suggest that the level of abstraction of a task and familiarity with the environment in which the task is taken can explain some of the differences between the performances of younger and older people. This is relevant for the choice of task settings and task properties to experimentally address any prospective memory research questions that are being asked.

Keywords: Age-prospective memory paradox; Ecological validity; Focality; Future intentions; Old age (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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