Memory Control Beliefs

Margie E Lachman, Carrie Andreoletti, Ann Pearman (2006 June). Memory Control Beliefs: How Are They Related To Age, Strategy Use And Memory Improvement? Social Cognition. New York, Vo. 24, Iss. 3, 359-376. Retrived October 6, 2006, from ProQuest Psychology Journals.

This article examines whether memory control beliefs and self-efficacy could be enhanced as well as improve performance by encouraging strategy use on an episodic memory task (Lachman, Andreoletti, Pearman 2006). The study consisted of a random sampling of 195 participants ranging in the age from 21 to 83 living in the Greater Boston Metropolitan Area. They were randomly assigned to one of four strategy group conditions: Writing, Categorization, Categorization + Writing, or a Practice Control group. The participants were asked to study and recall categorizable word lists on two trials: Pretest and Posttest. During the pretest, participants were given the memory task without any instructions in strategy use, while during the posttest, the groups were given the same tasks with specific strategy instructions.

The use of strategic behavior on memory tasks has been identified as being related to both control beliefs and memory performance. Therefore, one of the goals of this study is to examine whether encouraging young, middle-aged, and older adults to use specific strategies for an episodic memory task would enhance memory control beliefs, memory self-efficacy and memory performance. In addition, another goal of this study was to examine whether initial beliefs about memory control would affect the response to strategy use on memory tasks. Research has shown that a higher sense of control is related to better memory performance in later life (Hertzog, McGuire, & Lineweaver, 1998; Lachman, 1991) and that training using cognitive restructuring can improve memory self-efficacy and control beliefs (Lachman et al., 1992).

According to the results, strategy interventions