A Meta-Analytic Review of Prospective Memory and Aging.

Henry, Julie D.; Macleod, Mairi S.; Phillips, Louise H.; Crawford, John R. · 2004 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1037/0882-7974.19.1.27

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This meta-analysis investigates age-related differences in prospective memory (PM), defined as the ability to remember future intentions, challenging the prevailing view that PM declines more sharply with age than retrospective memory. The study addresses four specific questions: comparing age effects on time-based (TBPM) versus event-based (EBPM) tasks; quantifying differences between naturalistic and laboratory settings; testing whether strategic processing demands moderate age deficits in EBPM; and comparing PM decline against retrospective memory deficits. The authors conducted a systematic search of databases including Web of Science and PsycLIT, identifying 26 studies published between 1986 and 2001 that compared healthy young and older adults (mean age difference of 48.5 years). Effect sizes were calculated using Pearson correlation coefficients, and a random-effects meta-analytic model was employed to pool results. The analysis categorized tasks by setting (naturalistic vs. laboratory) and type (TBPM vs. EBPM). For EBPM, studies were further classified by strategic demand levels based on McDaniel and Einstein’s multiprocess framework, distinguishing between tasks requiring controlled strategic monitoring and those supported by automatic processes. Results revealed that in laboratory settings, older adults performed significantly worse than younger adults on both TBPM ($r = -.39$) and EBPM ($r = -.34$). However, in naturalistic settings, older adults performed significantly better than younger adults on both TBPM ($r = .52$) and EBPM ($r = .35$). Within laboratory EBPM tasks, high strategic demand conditions resulted in larger age deficits ($r = -.40$) compared to low strategic demand conditions ($r = -.14$). Crucially, the analysis found that retrospective memory, specifically free recall ($r = -.52$), exhibited significantly greater age-related decline than any form of prospective memory. Older adults also showed an age advantage in vocabulary tasks ($r = .40$). The findings suggest that while older adults show deficits in controlled, laboratory-based prospective memory tasks, these deficits are not differential when compared to retrospective memory, which declines more severely. The superior performance of older adults in naturalistic settings is likely attributed to the use of external aids and compensatory strategies. The study concludes that PM is not uniquely vulnerable to aging and that the magnitude of age effects depends heavily on task context and strategic demands.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-25; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• prospective memory interruptions