Gender and Age Differences in Time-Based Prospective Memory

Prospective memory is remembering to perform an action at the future point in time. Prospective memory is divided into two types, event-based and time-based. In natural environments it has been often found that older subjects have better performance than young adults in PM but in experimental environment, condition was reversed. Time-based prospective memory (TBPM) has negative relationship with aging and gender differences are not investigated in TBPM by researchers. The goal of this study was to identify gender and age differences in TBPM. Method: With ex-post facto method and purposeful sampling, one hundred participants were selected. Fifty participants were over 65 years old (25 males and 25 females) having BA degree and fifty participants were graduate students (25 males and 25 females), and the variables which assumes to have effects on TBPM were controlled (drug abuse, cognitive disease). For evaluation of TBPM, DMDX soft ware (foster & foster, 2003) was used. The PM task of this experiment required participants to click one of two buttons at 5-min intervals while responding to multiple choice general information questions. 5-min after the start of the multiple choice test, participants were to click the button labeled “1”. Five minutes later, participants were to touch the button labeled “2” and 5 min after that, button “1” for a total of eight buttons presses (40 min). For time monitoring purposes, a clock icon was present in the upper right hand corner. Participants needed to click the clock icon to see the time. This Prospective memory task gives three scores (PM task, on time click on correct choice; PM error, click on correct choice in wrong time; and Retrospective Memory (RM) error, click on wrong choice). Data were analyzed using two ways analysis of variance (two ways ANOVA). Findings: Males and Young adults respectively performed better than females and old adults in PM tasks, and there were significant interaction between age and gender in PM tasks (males showed more decreasing in PM tasks during aging). Females committed more PM errors, but there were no interaction between gender and age and differences among old adult and young in PM errors. Also old adults had more RM errors than young, but there were no interaction between gender and age and differences among males and females in RM errors. Discussion: Gender and age have significantly effect on TBPM function that could be originated from other cognition functions. Frontal lobe function, temporal lobe function, IQ and especially speed processing have tremendous effects on TBPM. These functions are quite influenced by aging. Men have a little better working memory, perceptual organization factor and speed processing than women that can explain gender differences in TBPM. The ongoing studies need to be investigated in natural environments.