Age-related differences in the goals and concerns that motivate real-life prospective memory tasks

Abstract

Prospective memory tasks are tasks that one must remember to perform in the future, such as keeping a dentist appointment or locking the door when leaving home. There has been little research to date on the question of what motivates real-life prospective memory tasks, and this is true both generally and within the subfield of aging and prospective memory. In the current study, we investigated whether the prospective memory tasks of younger and older adults were motivated by different personal goals and concerns, a question that has not been addressed in past research. Participants completed a questionnaire on current prospective memory tasks and the higher level goals and concerns that motivated these tasks. In general, younger and older adults reported prospective memory tasks motivated by different goals and concerns that reflected different social age systems or developmental tasks. Specifically, younger adults were more likely to report prospective memory tasks related to goals for education, profession, property, self, and leisure, and related to concerns about education and profession. In contrast, older adults were more likely to report prospective memory tasks related to concerns about world issues and war/terrorism. We also examined prospective memory task motivation more generally as approach motivation (goal-relatedness) and avoidance motivation (concern-relatedness). Both measures showed a gender by age group interaction. That is, older males showed especially low approach motivation and especially high avoidance motivation for their real-life prospective memory tasks. We suggest that a new approach to prospective memory research that incorporates motivational influences would enhance the ecological validity of prospective memory and aging research and may inform more effective memory interventions.

How Do Gain and Loss Incentives Affect Memory for Intentions Across Adulthood?

“…In line with this, both younger and older adults tend to report higher importance of PM tasks that are related to their personal goals. Moreover, self-reports suggest that younger and older adults' everyday PM demands are motivated by different goals and concerns (Penningroth & Scott, 2019). Here, we assume that the extent to which younger and older adults differ in motivational orientation (i.e., the tendency to be moved by approaching gains or avoiding losses; Freund & Ebner, 2005) influences their evaluation of incentives in a PM task.…”

Structure and performance of cassava markets: challenges of food security and connecting small farmers to markets in Cameroon

“…Most marketers are in their economically active growth period. Penningroth and Scott (2019) attest that young people and economically active people are usually selfmotivated and innovative thus explaining their drive to embrace new opportunities in the cassava agrifood market. The distribution indicates high household sizes with an average of nine persons per household in the pooled study area.…”