Summary: Purpose: One risk associated with epilepsy surgery is memory loss, but perhaps more important is how patients perceive changes in their memories. This longitudinal study evaluated changes in memory self‐reports and investigated how self‐reports relate to changes on objective memory measures in temporal or extratemporal epilepsy patients who underwent surgery. Methods: Objective memory (Wechsler Memory Scale–Revised) and subjective memory self‐reports (Memory Assessment Clinics Self‐Rating Scale) were individually assessed for 136 patients ∼6 months before and 6 months after surgery. A measure of depressive affect (Beck Depression Inventory–2nd Edition) was used to control variance attributable to emotional distress. Results: Despite a lack of significant correlational relationships between objective and subjective memory for the entire sample, significant correlations between objective memory scores and self‐reports did emerge for a subset of patients who evidenced memory decline. Differences also were found in the subjective memory ratings of temporal lobe versus extratemporal patients. Temporal lobe patients rated their memories more negatively than did extratemporal patients and were more likely to report significant improvements in their memory after surgery. Conclusions: In general, patients were not accurate when rating their memories compared to other adults. However, patients with significant declines in their memories were sensitive to actual changes in their memories over time relative to their own personal baselines.
This study examined the effect of whether participants were on or off their medications and the effect of questionnaire wording on self-reported symptoms in young adults with ADHD. Additionally, this research evaluated the relationships between these self-reported symptoms and objective performance on measures of working memory.This experimental study utilized a mixed factorial design with one between-subjects factor (whether participants were unmedicated or medicated at the time they completed their assessment) and one within-subjects factor (whether participants reported their on-medication or off-medication symptoms when describing their ADHD subjective symptomatology).Forty-five young adults with ADHD (ages 18-23) completed a brief neuropsychological evaluation and several self-report questionnaires.Although being medicated or unmedicated while completing the questionnaires did not directly affect self-reported symptoms or their accuracy, questionnaire wording exerted a statistically significant effect on subjective symptomatology; participants described themselves as substantially more symptomatic at times when they are off than at times when they are on their medications. More importantly, their general self-perceptions (symptoms when medication state was not specified) of their Inattention/Memory Problems and their Hyperactivity/Restlessness aligned with their descriptions of their off-medication symptoms, whereas their general self-perceptions of their Impulsivity/Emotional Lability and Problems with Self-Concept related to both their self-reported off-medication and on-medication symptoms.These results highlight the necessity of specifying medication state when asking patients to report their current symptomatology. Failing to do so risks an over-reporting of symptoms from patients who are typically on medications as they may describe the extent of their unmedicated, rather than medicated, symptomatology.Being medicated or unmedicated while completing questionnaires about subjective symptomatology did not directly affect self-reported symptoms of young adults with ADHD or the accuracy of these self-reports. When medication state was not specified on a questionnaire, young adults with ADHD reported symptoms similar to those they experience when they are not medicated. These results highlight the importance of specifying medication state when asking young adults with ADHD to report their current symptomatology. Failing to do so risks an over-reporting of symptoms from patients who are typically on medications. These findings open the door for further research with larger and more diverse and representative samples of adults with ADHD to evaluate the accuracy of their subjective symptomatology relative to their objective abilities. Future studies should also examine whether gender affects subjective symptoms, their accuracy, or the influence of question wording and medications on self-reported symptomatology of adults with ADHD, as the current study was unable to address this important issue.
Past research has investigated the development of stereotypes surrounding race and gender in children; however, there is a lack of literature examining the development of children's stereotypes of older adults. In this study, 163 children from four grades: first (n = 44), fourth (n = 49), fifth (n = 35), and eighth (n = 35) completed a new trait-rating questionnaire assessing their stereotypes of older adults. Children's stereotypes of older adults were largely positive. Younger children described older adults in more positive, but more stereotyped, ways than older children. Older children's views shared a stronger relationship with those of their parents and peers compared to younger children. Together, these results support both cognitive development and social influences as contributing factors to the formation of children's stereotypes of older adults.
We investigated whether beliefs about the current versus future effectiveness of memory strategies predict young and older adults' everyday strategy use.103 young and 91 older adults reported their memory goals, beliefs about the current and future effectiveness of various strategies, and frequency of use of each strategy type.The two age groups equally valued current and future memory. Young adults' strategy selection related only to their beliefs about the strategies' current effectiveness; older adults utilized approaches they perceived as effective for improving both future and current memory.Findings highlight the importance of the temporal nature of memory strategy beliefs.
