Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée/European Review of Applied Psychology, 2016
Introduction.-Prospective memory (PM) refers to memory for future intentions and it is essential ... more Introduction.-Prospective memory (PM) refers to memory for future intentions and it is essential for safe and independent living. This paper focuses on Virtual Week (VW), a measure that was developed to closely represent everyday PM tasks in an English language setting in North America and Australia. Objectives.-The main objective of the present study is to offer the results of a Polish adaptation of VW and present the validity and psychometric properties of the adapted version. Method.-The Spearman-Brown split-half reliability coefficients and Cronbach's alphas were estimated in 77 young adults and 83 healthy older adults. To confirm the validity of the Polish VW, we analyzed whether it is sensitive to the pattern of PM deficits in the healthy elderly that is consistent with mechanisms underlying PM performance as well as theories of normal aging. Results.-The Polish VW was found to have strong psychometric properties and be sensitive to theoryand data-based effects on PM. Conclusion.-The findings strongly encourage the use of VW for experimental purposes in healthy older adults. They provide further evidence that VW has a universal appeal and may be used in non-English speaking European samples.
British Journal of Clinical Psychology, Mar 12, 2016
Episodic foresight refers to the capacity to mentally travel forward in time and has been linked ... more Episodic foresight refers to the capacity to mentally travel forward in time and has been linked to a wide variety of important functional behaviours. Evidence has recently emerged that chronic opiate use is associated with deficits in this critical capacity and that these difficulties are not simply a secondary consequence of broader cognitive dysfunction. The current study aimed to better understand the circumstances in which chronic opiate users might be expected to have problems with episodic foresight, by addressing whether deficits reflect compromised scene construction, self-projection, or narrative ability. Thirty-five chronic opiate users and 35 demographically matched controls completed an imagination task in which they were instructed to imagine and provide descriptions of an atemporal event, a plausible, self-relevant future event, as well as complete a narrative task. These three imagination conditions systematically varied in their demands on scene construction, self-projection, and narrative ability. Consistent with prior literature, chronic opiate users exhibited reduced capacity for episodic foresight relative to controls. However, this study was the first to show that these difficulties were independent of capacity for scene construction and narration. Instead, a specific impairment in self-projection into the future appears to contribute to the problems with episodic foresight seen in this clinical group. Deficits in self-projection into the future may have important implications in therapeutic environments given that many relapse prevention strategies rely heavily on the ability to project oneself into an unfamiliar future, free of problem substance use. A reduced capacity for episodic foresight highlights the importance of refining current relapse prevention protocols that place significant demands for mental time travel into the future. Psychosocial treatments should focus on the attainment of more immediate or short-term goals. It is difficult to delineate the effects of specific substances given long-standing drug use history common to chronic opiate users. Conclusions relating to neurological functioning are speculative given the absence of neuroimaging data.
The present study adapted a computerised version of Virtual Week, a laboratory measure of prospec... more The present study adapted a computerised version of Virtual Week, a laboratory measure of prospective memory designed to simulate the kinds of prospective memory tasks encountered in daily life. In particular, this study aimed to translate and adapt Virtual Week for an Italian population. We collected data from 198 subjects that were divided into five groups based on age: young-young adults (20-29 years, n = 47), young adults (30-45 years, n = 32), middle-age adults (46-59 years, n = 32), young-old adults (60-69 years, n = 41), and old-old adults (70 years plus, n = 39). Results showed that PM performance was best in younger adults, relatively stable over middle adulthood and then decreased with age, with older adults performing the least accurately, in particular for the time-based condition. Results also demonstrated good reliability estimates across a range of ages and task types. Thus, the adaptation of Virtual Week into Italian appears to be a reliable measure of prospective memory for the Italian population.
Prospective memory (PM) is a critical determinant of whether a person is able to lead an independ... more Prospective memory (PM) is a critical determinant of whether a person is able to lead an independent life. Because PM declines in late adulthood, an important question is therefore whether, and if so, which types, of PM interventions might lead to meaningful benefits. In the present study, we randomly assigned older adults to one of four conditions, in three of which participants received a structured PM intervention (Restorative, Compensatory, and Combined Restorative and Compensatory); the fourth was an Active Control condition. The results showed that there were significant gains on the PM training task used for both the Restorative and Combined conditions. We then analyzed change in PM tasks that were independent of the PM training task (Near Transfer). Only the Combined condition led to post-training improvement. Finally, we analyzed performance on measures of untrained cognitive abilities and everyday functioning: Far transfer effects were not evident for any intervention. These data align with prior literature in showing that interventions that target a single cognitive ability do not reliably generate far transfer effects, and additionally extend our understanding of these effects in two important ways. Firstly, they indicate that, even when the memory challenges that older adults are most concerned about are the direct target of restorative training, transfer effects to untrained cognitive domains may be difficult to achieve. Secondly, they indicate that for older adults whose primary goal is to enhance PM function, combining Restorative and Compensatory approaches is an effective approach. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Feb 1, 2019
Episodic future thinking (EFT), the ability to imagine experiencing a future event, and prospecti... more Episodic future thinking (EFT), the ability to imagine experiencing a future event, and prospective memory (PM), the ability to remember and carry out a planned action, are core aspects of future-oriented cognition that have individually been the focus of research attention in the developmental literature. However, the relationship between EFT and PM, including the extent to which it varies with PM task type, remains poorly delineated, particularly in middle childhood. The current study tested this relationship in 62 typically developing children aged 8-12 years. Results indicated that EFT ability was significantly related to performance on three types of PM tasks (regular and irregular event based and regular time based). Age was not found to moderate the relationship. Children's performance on the retrospective memory component of the PM tasks mediated the relationship between EFT ability and their performance on three types of PM tasks. For irregular event-based tasks, however, EFT made an additional significant contribution. This study adds to the limited empirical literature supporting a relationship between EFT and PM in this age band and supports theoretical models arguing that EFT ability may support PM performance by strengthening the encoding of PM task details in retrospective memory. However, additional mechanisms were also indicated for irregular event-based PM tasks, possibly involving strengthening of cue-context associations. These data
Cannabis use is associated with a range of neurocognitive deficits, including impaired episodic m... more Cannabis use is associated with a range of neurocognitive deficits, including impaired episodic memory. However, no study to date has assessed whether these difficulties extend to episodic foresight, a core component of which is the ability to mentally travel into one's personal future. This is a particularly surprising omission given that episodic memory is considered to be critical to engage episodic foresight. In the present study, we provide the first test of how episodic foresight is affected in the context of differing levels of cannabis use, and the degree to which performance on a measure of this construct is related to episodic memory. Sixty-one regular cannabis users (23 recreational, 33 regular) and 57 controls were assessed using an adapted version of the Autobiographical Interview. The results provide evidence of a dose response relationship between cannabis-related impairment and both episodic foresight and episodic memory, with regular-users exhibiting greater impairment than both the recreational user and control groups. These data therefore show for the first time that cannabis related disruption of cognitive functioning extends to the capacity for episodic foresight, and are discussed in relation to their potential implications for functional outcomes in this group.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Nov 1, 2014
Prospective memory (PM) refers to the implementation of delayed intentions, a cognitive ability t... more Prospective memory (PM) refers to the implementation of delayed intentions, a cognitive ability that plays a critical role in daily life because of its involvement in goal-directed behavior and consequently the development and maintenance of independence. Emerging evidence indicates that PM may be disrupted in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), potentially contributing to the functional difficulties that characterize this group. However, the degree, nature, and specificity of ASD-related impairment remains poorly understood. In the current study, children between 8 and 12 years of age who were diagnosed with ASDs (n = 30) were compared with typically developing children (n = 30) on a childappropriate version of the Virtual Week board game. This measure provides an opportunity to investigate the different sorts of PM failures that occur. The ASD group showed significant PM impairment on measures of time-based (but not event-based) prospective remembering. However, only a subtle difference emerged between regular and irregular PM tasks, and group differences were consistent across these tasks. Because regular and irregular tasks differentially load retrospective memory, these data imply that the PM difficulties seen in ASDs may primarily reflect a monitoring deficit
Relative to their young counterparts, older adults are poorer at recognizing facial expressions. ... more Relative to their young counterparts, older adults are poorer at recognizing facial expressions. A 2008 meta-analysis of 17 facial emotion recognition data sets showed that these age-related difficulties are not uniform. Rather, they are greatest for the emotions of anger, fear, and sadness, comparative with happiness and surprise, with no age-effect found for disgust. Since then, there have been many methodological advances in assessing emotion recognition. The current comprehensive meta-analysis systematically tested the influence of task characteristics (e.g., photographs vs. videos). The meta-analysis included 102 data sets that compared facial emotion recognition in older and young adult samples (N = 10,526). With task type combined, the pattern of age-effects across emotions was mostly consistent with the previous meta-analysis (i.e., largest age-effects for anger, fear, sadness; no effect for disgust). However, the magnitude and direction of age-effects were strongly influenced by elements of task design. Specifically, videos produced relatively moderate age-effects across all emotions, which indicates that older adults may not exhibit a positivity effect for facial emotion recognition. For disgust recognition, older adults demonstrated superior accuracy to young adults for the most common image set (Pictures of Facial Affect). However, they were poorer than young adults at recognizing this emotion for all other stimulus formats and image sets, which suggests that they do not retain disgust recognition. We discuss the implications that such diversity in the age-effects produced by different facial emotion recognition task designs has for understanding real-world deficits and task selection in future emotion recognition studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Mar 16, 2013
Cognitive studies generally report impaired autobiographical memory in individuals with autism sp... more Cognitive studies generally report impaired autobiographical memory in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but mostly using verbal paradigms. In the present study, we therefore investigated the properties of both past and future autobiographical productions Autobiographical memory in autism using visual cues in 16 boys with ASD and 16 typically developing (TD) participants aged between 10-18 years. We focused on sensory properties, emotional properties, and recollection, probing past and future productions for both near and distant time periods. Results showed that the ASD group performed more poorly than controls on free recall for recent periods, but performed like them when provided with visual cues. In addition, the ASD group reported fewer sensory details than controls and exhibited difficulties in the experience of recollection for the most remote events. These data suggest a combination of consolidation and binding deficits. Finally, our findings reveal the relevance of using visual cues to probe autobiographical memory, with possible perspectives for memory rehabilitation.
Although a number of studies have now shown that schizophrenia is associated with impaired memory... more Although a number of studies have now shown that schizophrenia is associated with impaired memory for future intentions (prospective memory), the degree and nature of the impairment remains to be clarified, as does the degree to which this impairment is secondary to deficits in other aspects of cognition. In the present study thirty participants with schizophrenia were compared with demographically matched controls on Virtual Week, a measure that closely represents the types of prospective memory tasks that actually occur in everyday life, and provides an opportunity to investigate the different sorts of prospective memory failures that occur. Participants with schizophrenia were significantly and comparably impaired on Virtual Week, irrespective of the specific prospective memory task demands. Importantly, after controlling for general cognitive functioning, executive functioning and retrospective memory, although the absolute magnitude of the deficit was reduced, significant impairment remained. These results suggest that individuals with schizophrenia experience generalized difficulties with prospective memory, and that whilst other cognitive deficits contribute to these difficulties, there is something unique to prospective remembering that is additionally disrupted in schizophrenia.
Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée/European Review of Applied Psychology, 2016
Introduction.-Prospective memory (PM) refers to memory for future intentions and it is essential ... more Introduction.-Prospective memory (PM) refers to memory for future intentions and it is essential for safe and independent living. This paper focuses on Virtual Week (VW), a measure that was developed to closely represent everyday PM tasks in an English language setting in North America and Australia. Objectives.-The main objective of the present study is to offer the results of a Polish adaptation of VW and present the validity and psychometric properties of the adapted version. Method.-The Spearman-Brown split-half reliability coefficients and Cronbach's alphas were estimated in 77 young adults and 83 healthy older adults. To confirm the validity of the Polish VW, we analyzed whether it is sensitive to the pattern of PM deficits in the healthy elderly that is consistent with mechanisms underlying PM performance as well as theories of normal aging. Results.-The Polish VW was found to have strong psychometric properties and be sensitive to theoryand data-based effects on PM. Conclusion.-The findings strongly encourage the use of VW for experimental purposes in healthy older adults. They provide further evidence that VW has a universal appeal and may be used in non-English speaking European samples.
British Journal of Clinical Psychology, Mar 12, 2016
Episodic foresight refers to the capacity to mentally travel forward in time and has been linked ... more Episodic foresight refers to the capacity to mentally travel forward in time and has been linked to a wide variety of important functional behaviours. Evidence has recently emerged that chronic opiate use is associated with deficits in this critical capacity and that these difficulties are not simply a secondary consequence of broader cognitive dysfunction. The current study aimed to better understand the circumstances in which chronic opiate users might be expected to have problems with episodic foresight, by addressing whether deficits reflect compromised scene construction, self-projection, or narrative ability. Thirty-five chronic opiate users and 35 demographically matched controls completed an imagination task in which they were instructed to imagine and provide descriptions of an atemporal event, a plausible, self-relevant future event, as well as complete a narrative task. These three imagination conditions systematically varied in their demands on scene construction, self-projection, and narrative ability. Consistent with prior literature, chronic opiate users exhibited reduced capacity for episodic foresight relative to controls. However, this study was the first to show that these difficulties were independent of capacity for scene construction and narration. Instead, a specific impairment in self-projection into the future appears to contribute to the problems with episodic foresight seen in this clinical group. Deficits in self-projection into the future may have important implications in therapeutic environments given that many relapse prevention strategies rely heavily on the ability to project oneself into an unfamiliar future, free of problem substance use. A reduced capacity for episodic foresight highlights the importance of refining current relapse prevention protocols that place significant demands for mental time travel into the future. Psychosocial treatments should focus on the attainment of more immediate or short-term goals. It is difficult to delineate the effects of specific substances given long-standing drug use history common to chronic opiate users. Conclusions relating to neurological functioning are speculative given the absence of neuroimaging data.
The present study adapted a computerised version of Virtual Week, a laboratory measure of prospec... more The present study adapted a computerised version of Virtual Week, a laboratory measure of prospective memory designed to simulate the kinds of prospective memory tasks encountered in daily life. In particular, this study aimed to translate and adapt Virtual Week for an Italian population. We collected data from 198 subjects that were divided into five groups based on age: young-young adults (20-29 years, n = 47), young adults (30-45 years, n = 32), middle-age adults (46-59 years, n = 32), young-old adults (60-69 years, n = 41), and old-old adults (70 years plus, n = 39). Results showed that PM performance was best in younger adults, relatively stable over middle adulthood and then decreased with age, with older adults performing the least accurately, in particular for the time-based condition. Results also demonstrated good reliability estimates across a range of ages and task types. Thus, the adaptation of Virtual Week into Italian appears to be a reliable measure of prospective memory for the Italian population.
Prospective memory (PM) is a critical determinant of whether a person is able to lead an independ... more Prospective memory (PM) is a critical determinant of whether a person is able to lead an independent life. Because PM declines in late adulthood, an important question is therefore whether, and if so, which types, of PM interventions might lead to meaningful benefits. In the present study, we randomly assigned older adults to one of four conditions, in three of which participants received a structured PM intervention (Restorative, Compensatory, and Combined Restorative and Compensatory); the fourth was an Active Control condition. The results showed that there were significant gains on the PM training task used for both the Restorative and Combined conditions. We then analyzed change in PM tasks that were independent of the PM training task (Near Transfer). Only the Combined condition led to post-training improvement. Finally, we analyzed performance on measures of untrained cognitive abilities and everyday functioning: Far transfer effects were not evident for any intervention. These data align with prior literature in showing that interventions that target a single cognitive ability do not reliably generate far transfer effects, and additionally extend our understanding of these effects in two important ways. Firstly, they indicate that, even when the memory challenges that older adults are most concerned about are the direct target of restorative training, transfer effects to untrained cognitive domains may be difficult to achieve. Secondly, they indicate that for older adults whose primary goal is to enhance PM function, combining Restorative and Compensatory approaches is an effective approach. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Feb 1, 2019
Episodic future thinking (EFT), the ability to imagine experiencing a future event, and prospecti... more Episodic future thinking (EFT), the ability to imagine experiencing a future event, and prospective memory (PM), the ability to remember and carry out a planned action, are core aspects of future-oriented cognition that have individually been the focus of research attention in the developmental literature. However, the relationship between EFT and PM, including the extent to which it varies with PM task type, remains poorly delineated, particularly in middle childhood. The current study tested this relationship in 62 typically developing children aged 8-12 years. Results indicated that EFT ability was significantly related to performance on three types of PM tasks (regular and irregular event based and regular time based). Age was not found to moderate the relationship. Children's performance on the retrospective memory component of the PM tasks mediated the relationship between EFT ability and their performance on three types of PM tasks. For irregular event-based tasks, however, EFT made an additional significant contribution. This study adds to the limited empirical literature supporting a relationship between EFT and PM in this age band and supports theoretical models arguing that EFT ability may support PM performance by strengthening the encoding of PM task details in retrospective memory. However, additional mechanisms were also indicated for irregular event-based PM tasks, possibly involving strengthening of cue-context associations. These data
Cannabis use is associated with a range of neurocognitive deficits, including impaired episodic m... more Cannabis use is associated with a range of neurocognitive deficits, including impaired episodic memory. However, no study to date has assessed whether these difficulties extend to episodic foresight, a core component of which is the ability to mentally travel into one's personal future. This is a particularly surprising omission given that episodic memory is considered to be critical to engage episodic foresight. In the present study, we provide the first test of how episodic foresight is affected in the context of differing levels of cannabis use, and the degree to which performance on a measure of this construct is related to episodic memory. Sixty-one regular cannabis users (23 recreational, 33 regular) and 57 controls were assessed using an adapted version of the Autobiographical Interview. The results provide evidence of a dose response relationship between cannabis-related impairment and both episodic foresight and episodic memory, with regular-users exhibiting greater impairment than both the recreational user and control groups. These data therefore show for the first time that cannabis related disruption of cognitive functioning extends to the capacity for episodic foresight, and are discussed in relation to their potential implications for functional outcomes in this group.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Nov 1, 2014
Prospective memory (PM) refers to the implementation of delayed intentions, a cognitive ability t... more Prospective memory (PM) refers to the implementation of delayed intentions, a cognitive ability that plays a critical role in daily life because of its involvement in goal-directed behavior and consequently the development and maintenance of independence. Emerging evidence indicates that PM may be disrupted in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), potentially contributing to the functional difficulties that characterize this group. However, the degree, nature, and specificity of ASD-related impairment remains poorly understood. In the current study, children between 8 and 12 years of age who were diagnosed with ASDs (n = 30) were compared with typically developing children (n = 30) on a childappropriate version of the Virtual Week board game. This measure provides an opportunity to investigate the different sorts of PM failures that occur. The ASD group showed significant PM impairment on measures of time-based (but not event-based) prospective remembering. However, only a subtle difference emerged between regular and irregular PM tasks, and group differences were consistent across these tasks. Because regular and irregular tasks differentially load retrospective memory, these data imply that the PM difficulties seen in ASDs may primarily reflect a monitoring deficit
Relative to their young counterparts, older adults are poorer at recognizing facial expressions. ... more Relative to their young counterparts, older adults are poorer at recognizing facial expressions. A 2008 meta-analysis of 17 facial emotion recognition data sets showed that these age-related difficulties are not uniform. Rather, they are greatest for the emotions of anger, fear, and sadness, comparative with happiness and surprise, with no age-effect found for disgust. Since then, there have been many methodological advances in assessing emotion recognition. The current comprehensive meta-analysis systematically tested the influence of task characteristics (e.g., photographs vs. videos). The meta-analysis included 102 data sets that compared facial emotion recognition in older and young adult samples (N = 10,526). With task type combined, the pattern of age-effects across emotions was mostly consistent with the previous meta-analysis (i.e., largest age-effects for anger, fear, sadness; no effect for disgust). However, the magnitude and direction of age-effects were strongly influenced by elements of task design. Specifically, videos produced relatively moderate age-effects across all emotions, which indicates that older adults may not exhibit a positivity effect for facial emotion recognition. For disgust recognition, older adults demonstrated superior accuracy to young adults for the most common image set (Pictures of Facial Affect). However, they were poorer than young adults at recognizing this emotion for all other stimulus formats and image sets, which suggests that they do not retain disgust recognition. We discuss the implications that such diversity in the age-effects produced by different facial emotion recognition task designs has for understanding real-world deficits and task selection in future emotion recognition studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Mar 16, 2013
Cognitive studies generally report impaired autobiographical memory in individuals with autism sp... more Cognitive studies generally report impaired autobiographical memory in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but mostly using verbal paradigms. In the present study, we therefore investigated the properties of both past and future autobiographical productions Autobiographical memory in autism using visual cues in 16 boys with ASD and 16 typically developing (TD) participants aged between 10-18 years. We focused on sensory properties, emotional properties, and recollection, probing past and future productions for both near and distant time periods. Results showed that the ASD group performed more poorly than controls on free recall for recent periods, but performed like them when provided with visual cues. In addition, the ASD group reported fewer sensory details than controls and exhibited difficulties in the experience of recollection for the most remote events. These data suggest a combination of consolidation and binding deficits. Finally, our findings reveal the relevance of using visual cues to probe autobiographical memory, with possible perspectives for memory rehabilitation.
Although a number of studies have now shown that schizophrenia is associated with impaired memory... more Although a number of studies have now shown that schizophrenia is associated with impaired memory for future intentions (prospective memory), the degree and nature of the impairment remains to be clarified, as does the degree to which this impairment is secondary to deficits in other aspects of cognition. In the present study thirty participants with schizophrenia were compared with demographically matched controls on Virtual Week, a measure that closely represents the types of prospective memory tasks that actually occur in everyday life, and provides an opportunity to investigate the different sorts of prospective memory failures that occur. Participants with schizophrenia were significantly and comparably impaired on Virtual Week, irrespective of the specific prospective memory task demands. Importantly, after controlling for general cognitive functioning, executive functioning and retrospective memory, although the absolute magnitude of the deficit was reduced, significant impairment remained. These results suggest that individuals with schizophrenia experience generalized difficulties with prospective memory, and that whilst other cognitive deficits contribute to these difficulties, there is something unique to prospective remembering that is additionally disrupted in schizophrenia.
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Papers by Peter Rendell