Many studies have demonstrated no (or weak) associations between self-evaluated and objective memory. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether such incongruent associations between the two constructs could be explained by better or worse self-assessments in reporting subjective memory. Participants from the 2000 wave of the Long Beach Longitudinal Study (N= 916; age range: 29–98; mean age=69.17) were utilized. The four factors (frequency of forgetting, retrospective functioning, seriousness of forgetting, mnemonics usage) of the Memory Function Questionnaire (MFQ; Gilewski, Zelinski, & Schaie, 1990) were used for subjective memory. Four groups were created based on quartiles of scores across three cognitive domains (Immediate recall, Vocabulary, and Recognition Vocabulary). ANOVAs were used to analyze the data. Results indicated significant mean differences in frequency of forgetting for the groups based on immediate recall (p<0.001), vocabulary test (p<0.05), and recognition vocabulary (p<0.001) performance, suggesting that people with higher scores in the various cognitive domains rated their subjective memory in frequency of forgetting higher. Significant mean differences in retrospective functioning emerged for the groups categorized based on vocabulary (p<0.001), and recognition vocabulary (p<0.001), suggesting that people with higher scores in these cognitive domains rated their subjective memory in retrospective forgetting poorer. People with better cognitive abilities appeared to be more optimistic about their frequency of forgetting and more pessimistic about their retrospective functioning. The findings support the work of Gilewski et al. and others that subjective memory is not a single construct; it comprises multiple factors that are highly distinctive.
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