C. Hertzog et al., Ask and ye shall receive: Behavioural specificity in the accuracy of subjective memory complaints, APPL COGN P, 14(3), 2000, pp. 257-275
A cross-sectional sample of adults completed an extensive set of cognitive
tasks and a set of questionnaires measuring depressive affect, memory compl
aint, and other variables. During an interview about their prescribed medic
ations, the participants also reported whether they were having problems re
membering to take the medication as prescribed (an everyday prospective mem
ory problem). Their medication adherence at home was then monitored for one
month using pill bottles which microelectronic caps. Cognitive tasks corre
lated with memory complaints, as measured by the Memory Functioning Questio
nnaire, but not with problems in remembering to take medications. The highe
st correlations were with a free recall task. Conversely, reported problems
with medication adherence during the interview had good predictive validit
y for subsequent adherence problems, but not for cognitive tasks, including
a measure of prospective memory. Depressive affect was related to both the
questionnaire and the interview complaints about medication adherence, but
a structural equation model showed that the relationships of cognition and
medication adherence to the different memory complaints were independent o
f depressive affect. The results are interpreted in terms of a behavioural
specificity hypothesis, which states that adults' self-reports of memory pr
oblems are valid when they focus directly on specific memory-related behavi
ours in everyday contexts. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.