Everyday Memory Intervention

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Aging

Interventions: Behavioral: Memory Strategy Control Intervention
Behavioral: Everyday Metacognitive Memory Intervention

Registration Number: NCT04088136

Lead Sponsor: Georgia Institute of Technology

Brief Summary: Evaluates an intervention designed to improve everyday memory function, contrasting people receiving the intervention with a group that receives traditional memory strategy training.

Detailed Description: This project seeks to develop and validate a novel approach to training everyday memory functioning in older adults. The approach (1) trains people to use simple but effective memory skills that have broad applicability in everyday life and (2) shapes a set of skills and habits of mind that will increase the likelihood of effective use of skills and memory aids. It is based on a metacognitive perspective on self-regulation in cognitively demanding situations and informed by recent theories about how suboptimal habit patterns can be altered. The approach has not yet been used in an everyday memory intervention in high-functioning, community-dwelling older adults. The proposed research validates ecological momentary assessment methods to get actual behavioral measures of forgetting in everyday life. It then uses these procedures in a randomized experiment that contrasts the everyday memory intervention group with a traditional memory-strategy training group. The hypothesis is that the everyday memory training intervention will reduce everyday memory errors and memory complaints, whereas the memory strategy training will alter strategy use and memory performance, with little cross-over effect. The hypothesized pattern will establish the explicit benefits of our everyday memory intervention procedures and demonstrate the limitation of standard memory training for that purpose.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 68

Inclusion Criteria

70 - 85 years of age
in fair to good health
free of major neurocognitive impairment
English speaking
endorsed Smartphone and computer users (or willing to learn)

Exclusion Criteria

diagnosis of any major neurological problems (e.g. stroke, Parkinson's disease, dementia)
1.5 SD below age-normed mean (or lower) on the TICS
low computer and smart phone literacy
and poor self-rated health.

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Memory Strategy Control	Memory Strategy Control Intervention	Trains the use of memory strategies for learning new associations and concepts
Everyday Metacognitive Memory	Everyday Metacognitive Memory Intervention	Training in techniques for managing memory demands in everyday life

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Everyday Cognition Simulation Task: ATM Task (Number of Errors)	posttest only	Computerized task to simulate use of an ATM machine. Measure: number of errors
Associative Recall Test	pretest and posttest (approximately 1 month lag)	Computerized task to present 40 concrete-concrete associatively unrelated noun pairs (Hertzog, Sinclair, \& Dunlosky, 2010) Outcome is proportion of 40 words correctly recalled.
Prospective Memory Lab Contact Efficiency	Two weeks prior to posttest	median absolute time deviation (in minutes) from scheduled lab contact for completed contacts
Everyday Memory Failures	minimum 8 day period after training on app prior to posttest	Across the data collection period, participants audio recorded descriptions of their memory failures on a smartphone app. The audio recordings were transcribed and then cleaned and qualitatively coded so that the number of memory failures each participant reported during the data collection period could be counted. The data was qualitatively coded to ensure an accurate count of the number of memory failures per participant without counting duplicate events or accidental reports. Average daily number of reported memory failures from EMA \& daily diaries is reported.
Czaja Everyday Cognition Simulation Task: Prescription Refill Task (Number of Errors)	posttest only	Computerized task to simulate use of an automated telephone program to refill prescriptions. Measure: Number of errors
Story Recall	posttest only	gist recall of narrative story (total number of propositions (ideas) from story recalled)
Prospective Memory Lab Contacts	Two weeks prior to posttest	Number of successfully completed lab contacts (maximum of 4)
Free Recall Test	pretest and posttest (approximately 1 month lag)	Computerized task to present 30 concrete nouns, 6 from 5 taxonomic categories (Hultsch, Hertzog, Dixon, \& Small, 1998) Measure is proportion of 30 words recalled
Everyday Cognition Simulation Task: ATM Task (Time in Seconds)	posttest only	Computerized task to simulate use of an ATM machine. Measure: time to complete task (in seconds)
Czaja Everyday Cognition Simulation Task: Prescription Refill Task (Time in Seconds)	posttest only	Computerized task to simulate use of an automated telephone program to refill prescriptions. Measure: time to complete task (in seconds)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
MFQ Memory Complaint (Frequency of Forgetting Scale)	pretest and posttest (approximately 1 month lag)	Summative Likert scale measuring frequency of reported memory problems for specific types of problems Measure is average item Likert rating on a 1-7 scale. Higher score indicates fewer memory problems
PBMI Specific Memory Self-Efficacy	pretest and posttest (approximately 1 month lag)	The Personal Beliefs about Memory Instruments (PBMI) Specific Memory Self-Efficacy measurement is a summative visual analog rating scale measuring self-rated memory aggregated over multiple specific types of memory. Outcomes scaled in average proportion of distance from left (0) to maximum of 1.00 (higher scores indicate greater memory self-efficacy).
PBMI Memory Control	pretest and posttest (approximately 1 month lag)	Summative visual analog rating scale measuring self-rated control over everyday. Outcome is scaled as average proportion of maximum endorsement (ranging from 0 to 1.0, with higher scores indicate greater perceived control)
MCQ Internal Scale	pretest and posttest (approximately 1 month lag)	Summative Likert scale obtaining self-rated frequency of use of internal mnemonic strategies in everyday life. Average Likert rating on 1-5 scale (higher scores indicate greater use of strategies)
MCQ External	pretest and posttest (approximately 1 month lag)	Summative Likert scale obtaining self-rated frequency of use of external memory aids. Outcome is scaled as average Likert rating on 1-5 scale. Higher score indicates greater use of external aids.