If you were in charge of a program to help older individuals with their memories, what advice could you provided in particular with retrospective and prospective memory?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Each of us often uses various kinds of reminders—external memory aids—to enhance the likelihood that we will remember important information. External memory aids can be used to remember appointments (a calendar) or to take medication (a medication organizer that is filled with medication separated by day and time of day and may be equipped with an alarm that sounds when the medication is due). In addition, we can design our environment to help us remember important information through the use of forcing functions. These are physical constraints that prevent us from acting without at least considering the key information to be remembered. For example, to ensure that someone remembers to eat something when they take a particular medication, the medication can be set out on the counter with a snack.

Prospective memory, like retrospective memory, is subject to decline as we age. Over the years, we retain more of our prospective memory than of our retrospective memory. This retention is likely the result of using the external cues and strategies that can be used to bolster prospective memory. In the laboratory, older adults show a decline in prospective memory; however, outside the laboratory, they show better performance than young adults. This difference may be due to greater reliance on strategies to aid in remembering as we age