‘It is nothing more than a senior moment’: the moderating role of subjective age in the effect of change in memory on self-rated memory

ABSTRACT

Objective: The association between memory performance and self-rated memory is yet to be understood. More specifically, little is known about the factors that lie at the base of self-evaluations of memory in relation to actual changes in memory. In this study, we suggest that subjective age modifies the effect of objective change in memory on self-rated memory.

Method: We used two waves of the Health and Retirement Study (N = 4624) to examine whether subjective age moderates the effect of experienced changes in memory between T1 and T2 on self-rated memory at T2.

Results: Our results suggest that subjective age is a significant moderator of the effect of change in memory on self-rated memory. The effect is weaker among those with younger subjective age, and stronger for those with older subjective age.

Conclusion: While preserving a young subjective age is usually considered an adaptive strategy, it also has potential negative effects, masking changes in memory performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Memory
• self-rated memory
• subjective age

Acknowledgment

The HRS (Health and Retirement Study) is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (grant number NIA U01AG009740) and is conducted by the University of Michigan.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

National Institute on Aging [grant number NIA U01AG009740].