Prospective memory (remembering to carry out an intention at an opportune time in the future) is especially important for older adults. Age-related PM failures can threaten independent living and, for health-related concerns, even be life threatening. There exists considerable debate over the key cognitive and neural processes involved in prospective memory and age-related changes in prospective memory. The current project represents a groundbreaking study designed to use cutting-edge fMRI techniques to illuminate the neural mechanisms associated with both age-related declines in prospective memory, as well as with the age-related sparing in prospective memory that has been reported in some studies. The novelty of the proposed work is underscored by the absence of any neuroimaging work on prospective memory and aging. Our approach distinguishes between event-based prospective memory tasks, which require that prospective goals be carried out when signaled by a specific event, and time-based prospective memory tasks, which require the intended action to be performed at a particular time or after an elapsed period of time. Further, we evaluate several key and novel theoretical predictions. We suggest that some prospective memory tasks require strategic cognitive processes, processes associated with sustained activity in anterior PFC. We predict that age-related impairment on these prospective memory tasks will hinge on age-related decline in these anterior PFC processes. In contrast, other prospective memory tasks can be supported by relatively spontaneous processes, transient processes associated with event-driven activation of MTL/HC, PPC, and posterior PFC. We anticipate that older adults will show intact transient neural activation in these areas relative to younger adults, and that this intact neural activation will mediate spared prospective remembering in older adults. Older adults face an array of daily prospective memory tasks that are critical for maintaining the fabric of their lives. These tasks range from remembering to send a grandchild or a friend a birthday card to remembering to pay bills and remembering to take medication. Significant problems in remembering to carry out tasks like paying bills and taking medication can threaten older adults'independent living. This project has high relevance for public health by providing critical information regarding (a) the neural mechanisms that contribute to robust age-related decline in prospective memory, and (b) spared neural mechanisms that support intact prospective memory in older adults under some conditions. Understanding the neural processes underlying prospective memory that are and are not affected by normal aging will be useful for designing effective interventions to assist older adults with prospective remembering.
Older adults face an array of daily prospective memory tasks that are critical for maintaining the fabric of their lives. These tasks range from remembering to send a grandchild or a friend a birthday card to remembering to pay bills and remembering to take medication. Significant problems in remembering to carry out tasks like paying bills and taking medication can threaten older adults' independent living. This project has high relevance for public health by providing critical information regarding (a) the neural mechanisms that contribute to robust age-related decline in prospective memory, and (b) spared neural mechanisms that support intact prospective memory in older adults under some conditions. Understanding the neural processes underlying prospective memory that are and are not affected by normal aging will be useful for designing effective interventions to assist older adults with prospective remembering.
| Lamichhane, Bidhan; McDaniel, Mark A; Waldum, Emily R et al. (2018) Age-related changes in neural mechanisms of prospective memory. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci : |
| Oksanen, Kevin M; Waldum, Emily R; McDaniel, Mark A et al. (2014) Neural mechanisms of time-based prospective memory: evidence for transient monitoring. PLoS One 9:e92123 |
| McDaniel, Mark A; Lamontagne, Pamela; Beck, Stefanie M et al. (2013) Dissociable neural routes to successful prospective memory. Psychol Sci 24:1791-800 |
| Savine, Adam C; McDaniel, Mark A; Shelton, Jill Talley et al. (2012) A characterization of individual differences in prospective memory monitoring using the Complex Ongoing Serial Task. J Exp Psychol Gen 141:337-62 |
| Scullin, Michael K; Bugg, Julie M; McDaniel, Mark A (2012) Whoops, I did it again: commission errors in prospective memory. Psychol Aging 27:46-53 |
| McDaniel, Mark A; Einstein, Gilles O (2011) The neuropsychology of prospective memory in normal aging: a componential approach. Neuropsychologia 49:2147-55 |
| McDaniel, Mark A; Shelton, Jill Talley; Breneiser, Jennifer E et al. (2011) Focal and nonfocal prospective memory performance in very mild dementia: a signature decline. Neuropsychology 25:387-96 |
