Roger W. Morrell

Effect of Age on Event-Based and Time-Based Prospective Memory

The magnitude of age differences on event- and time-based prospective memory tasks was investigated in 2 experiments. Participants performed a working memory task and were also required to perform either an event- or time-based prospective action. Control participants performed either the working memory task only or the prospective memory task only. Results yielded age differences on both prospective tasks. The age effect was particularly marked on the time-based task. Performance of the event-based prospective task, however, had a higher cost to performance on the concurrent working memory task than the time-based task did, suggesting that event-based responding has a substantial attentional requirement. The older adults also made a significant number of time-monitoring errors when time monitoring was their sole task. This suggests that some time-based prospective memory deficits in older adults are due to a fundamental deficit in time monitoring rather than to prospective memory.

Medication Adherence in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients: Older Is Wiser

OBJECTIVES: To create a profile of individuals nonadherent to their medications in an age‐stratified sample (ages 34–84) of community‐dwelling rheumatoid arthritis patients. The relative contributions of age, cognitive function, disability, emotional state, lifestyle, and beliefs about illness to nonadherence were assessed.

Prospective memory and aging: The effects of working memory and prospective memory task load

Abstract A persons level of engagement in other actions may influence whether a prospective action is correctly performed. This study used a computerized prospective memory task in which participants remembered to perform an action when a specified background pattern appeared while they simultaneously performed a verbal working memory task. Amount of engagement in the working memory task was manipulated by increasing the number of words to be recalled. Prospective memory load was manipulated by varying the number of prospective targets. Older adults performed more poorly than younger adults on the prospective memory task under higher working memory load and also higher prospective load. Participants with lower working memory load performed better on the prospective task, regardless of age. There were no significant age differences in the absolute accuracy of performance postdictions (post experiment performance awareness). Age differences were also found with a second prospective memory task in which par...

Medication adherence behaviors in older adults: effects of external cognitive supports.

Medication adherence behaviors of 61 elderly adults were examined using a sensitive microelectronic monitoring device. To assess the effects of external cognitive supports on adherence, different subjects received (a) no intervention, (b) an organizational chart, (c) an over-the-counter medication organizer, or (d) both the chart and organizer. The young-old subjects showed a high rate of adherence (94%) and were not improved by the addition of the interventions. Old-old subjects had a lower rate of adherence (85%) than young-olds. Omission errors were the most frequent mistakes and were lower in the condition in which subjects received both chart and organizer.

EFFECTS OF AGE AND TRAINING FORMATS ON BASIC COMPUTER SKILL ACQUISITION IN OLDER ADULTS

This study examined the ability of young‐old (ages 60‐74 years) and old‐old (ages 75‐89 years) adults to acquire and retain basic computer skills. The effects of two types of training methods on computer skill acquisition in these age groups also were explored. Participants in this study were trained to perform basic computer procedures with either an animated interactive multimedia compact disk (CD‐ROM) or an illustrated manual. They were then tested on their ability to perform these procedures immediately after training and 1 week later. The findings revealed the following. The young‐old adults made fewer performance and motor control errors, required less assistance, and took less time for training than the old‐old adults. Some forgetting of factual information about the computers and how to per‐form some of the procedures took place over time in both age groups. In addition, measures of spatial and verbal working memory were significant predictors of computer skill acquisition in some instances. Final...

The effects of age, illustrations, and task variables on the performance of procedural assembly tasks.

Older adults may be disadvantaged in the performance of procedural assembly tasks because of age-related declines in working memory operations. It was hypothesized that adding illustrations to instructional text may lessen age-related performance differences by minimizing processing demands on working memory in the elderly. In the present study, younger and older adults constructed a series of 3-dimensional objects from 3 types of instructions (text only, illustration only, or text and illustrations). Results indicated that instructions consisting of text and illustrations reduced errors in construction for both age groups compared with the other formats. Younger adults, however, outperformed older adults under all instructional format conditions. Measures of spatial and verbal working memory and text comprehension ability accounted for substantial age-related variance across the different format conditions but did not fully account for the age differences observed.

Effects of Age and Instructions on Teaching Older Adults To Use ELDERCOMM, an Electronic Bulletin Board System

This study focused on how to train older adults to perform computer procedures. Young-old (aged 60 74 years) and old-old (aged 75 years and older) adults were instructed on how to use ELDERCOMM , an electronic bulletin board system using one of two types of text-based instructions. The first set of directions consisted of illustrated, step-by-step instructions (simple condition). The second set of directions included the same step-by-step instructions as in the first set, but explanatory information about how the bulletin board system worked was added before theThis study focused on how to train older adults to perform computer procedures. Young-old (aged 60 74 years) and old-old (aged 75 years and older) adults were instructed on how to use ELDERCOMM , an electronic bulletin board system using one of two types of text-based instructions. The first set of directions consisted of illustrated, step-by-step instructions (simple condition). The second set of directions included the same step-by-step instructions as in the first set, but explanatory information about how the bulletin board system worked was added before the

Predictors of electronic bulletin board system use in older adults

Recent studies indicate that attitudes toward computers are improved in older adults following brief training sessions (G. Jay & S. L. Willis, 1992; R. W. Morrell, D. C. Park, C. B. Mayhorn, & K. V. Echt, 1996a; E. Zandri & N. Charness, 1989). In the present research, the utility of the attitude construct as a predictor of computer use is explored. Thirty-nine older adults were trained to use the ELDERCOMM electronic bulletin board system (R. W. Morrell, D. C. Park, C. B. Mayhorn, & K. V. Echt, 1996b), and they were then given the opportunity to use the system as often as they liked over a 2-month participation interval. Participants in the study had more positive attitudes toward computers than an unselected group of older adults , and the most positive attitudes were found in the group who returned to use the bulletin board frequently during the participation interval. However, the most important predictor of continued use of the system is success at initial training. Age, education, and income did not ...

Cognitive factors and the use of over-the-counter medication organizers by arthritis patients.

The present study investigated the ability of 45 arthritis patients, all using three or more prescription medications, to correctly load their medications into three types of over-the-counter medication organizers. The results indicated that use of a seven-day organizer with compartments for different times resulted in fewer errors than did an hour-by-hour wheel organizer or a seven-day organizer with only one compartment for each day. It was concluded that the seven-day organizer with compartments for different times appears to have the potential to improve compliance behaviors, but the usefulness of the other two organizers in promoting compliance is uncertain. Data analyses also indicated that age was not related to comprehension or loading accuracy of the organizers but that individuals using seven or more prescribed medications were particularly likely to make comprehension errors.

Forgetting of Pictures Over a Long Retention Interval in Young and Older Adults

Young and older adults were presented with pictures for study. Their recognition of the information was tested at five retention intervals: immediately, and 48 hr, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks later. The main finding of interest was that picture recognition did not show an age-related decline until the 1-week retention interval.