The authors examined the relationship between memory self-efficacy and memo
ry performance on 4 laboratory tasks designed to mimic everyday prospective
and retrospective memory tasks. The results indicated that memory self-eff
icacy significantly influenced prospective, but not retrospective, memory p
erformance. Further analyses showed that perceptions of greater memory capa
city, stability, and anxiety were associated with better performance on tim
e-based prospective memory tasks. For the event-based prospective memory ta
sk, the authors found a relationship with the locus of control component of
memory self-efficacy: The more the participants perceived their memory to
be under internal control, the better they performed on the event-based pro
spective task. These results highlight the importance of including prospect
ive memory tasks in investigations of the role of beliefs in older adults'
cognitive performance.