Sources of Response Bias in Cognitive Self-Report Items: “Which Memory Are You Talking About?”

Abstract

Assessment of self-reported cognition is critical to facilitate research on early AD symptoms. Findings from this study identify modifiable sources of response bias that may influence the measurement properties of currently used cognitive self-report items and can inform refinement of measures.

Longitudinal relationships among depressive symptoms and three types of memory self-report in cognitively intact older adults

“…Also related to the self-reported items is the potentially broad interpretations by participants and bias from other recent experiences (e.g., the neuropsychological battery completed in the same visit). As noted in our previous work, the approach used in this study as well as the current literature assumes all participants are interpreting items in the same way when responding, which is an untested assumption (Hill et al, 2018). Depressive symptoms were self-reported instead of obtained from a structured clinical interview.…”

What do people respond to when rating executive function? – a cognitive interviewing investigation of BRIEF-A informant ratings in severe aphasia

“…To our knowledge, BRIEF-A has not been investigated with cognitive interviewing methodology, but there are studies of other cognitive instruments that have presented interesting findings. Perhaps most relevant to the present study, Hill et al [37] investigated older adults' self-ratings of memory function. They found several instances where the structure and content of the questionnaire items influenced the participants' interpretations and decisional processes in a problematic way.…”

“…They found several instances where the structure and content of the questionnaire items influenced the participants' interpretations and decisional processes in a problematic way. Examples of problems that Hill et al [37] detected were: vague intent or meaning in question wording, lack of characterisation of the problems of interest, unspecified point of comparison, and incorrect assumptions regarding consistency of cognitive problems across situations. Considering that their study was concerned with ratings of a cognitive function, with construction of the items similar to those used in ratings of executive function, it might be hypothesised that similar problems could occur with instruments such as BRIEF-A.…”

Mobile cognitive testing: opportunities for aging and neurodegeneration research in low- and middle-income countries

“…Independent of the design of the studies, the measurement of cognitive function in studies of older adults is often made in the form of self-reports, reports by proxies, or by performance-based tests. Whilst self-reports and reports by proxies can be affected by retrospective reporting biases and other factors [13], performance-based tests are more objective measures of function. Yet, their routine use in longitudinal research studies is not without challenges.…”