Prospective Memory Training

Prospective memory (PM) involves remembering to perform intended actions in the future. PM failures are especially problematic for older adults, both in terms of frequency of occurrence and severity of consequences. As such, we tackle the challenge of developing a cognitive training program for PM specifically geared towards older adults. Departing from other popular cognitive training, our focus has been and continues to be on teaching effective and efficient strategies with the intention of promoting transfer to real-world PM challenges. We discuss several considerations in cognitive training including matching the type of PM task (focal or nonfocal) with effective strategies, variability and characteristics of training materials, and differences in methods used to train strategies. For example, training can involve explicit direct instruction or guided instruction aimed at helping a person self-generate and self-evaluate strategy effectiveness. Existing data and ongoing work aimed at identifying the key intervention components that enhance successful outcomes are presented. We report a new study with healthy older adults that includes these components and develops a metacognitive-strategy intervention for prospective memory that guides participants in analysis of task demands and self-generation of strategies. We also describe some initial prospective-memory training work with Parkinson’s disease patients.