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Most Seniors Accurately Assess Their Own Memory

Wed, 11/15/2000 - 1:00am — Karen Stevenson
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Most people over age 70 do a pretty good job of rating their own memory (an ability called metamemory), researchers report. When they don't, other problems may be present. The study, reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, was led by Dr. Carolyn Turvey from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. They researchers studied memory complaints in a large group of community-dwelling people at least 70 years old.

For the most part, formal testing of an individual's thinking and memory ability agreed with their self-assessment of memory. Those who inaccurately estimated their memory ability tended to underestimate their difficulties. Two factors strongly predicted the chance of underestimating actual memory ability -- elderly individuals who had difficulty in their daily functioning and those who were depressed were far more likely than others to complain of memory deficits, even when their memory tested normally.

Most people over age 70 do a pretty good job of rating their own memory (an ability called metamemory), researchers report. When they don't, other problems may be present. The study, reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, was led by Dr. Carolyn Turvey from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. They researchers studied memory complaints in a large group of community-dwelling people at least 70 years old.

For the most part, formal testing of an individual's thinking and memory ability agreed with their self-assessment of memory. Those who inaccurately estimated their memory ability tended to underestimate their difficulties. Two factors strongly predicted the chance of underestimating actual memory ability -- elderly individuals who had difficulty in their daily functioning and those who were depressed were far more likely than others to complain of memory deficits, even when their memory tested normally.