Daily influences on memory issues in older adults

• Applicants: Dr. David Berron; Dr. Johanna Hartung; Dr. Luca Kleineidam
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 556059687

The overarching goal of the proposed study is to gain a deeper understanding of memory problems in the daily lives of older adults who visit a memory clinic due to subjective cognitive complaints (SCD patients), individuals with depression who also often complain of cognitive problems, and healthy older individuals. Although subjective memory complaints are common in older adults, little is known about whether and how global memory complaints are based on memory lapses in everyday life and how daily memory problems are related to daily routines. The proposed study has three major objectives. The first objective is to identify the number and types of memory lapses that occur in daily life as well as level of cognitive performance in daily life. Furthermore, intra-individual fluctuations in the occurrence of memory lapses and daily memory performance in older adults will be examined. Second, the study aims to understand how subjective memory lapses relate to the level of cognitive ability and fluctuations in objective daily memory performance. Third, the study will examine correlates of memory lapses in older adults’ everyday life, including stress, sleep quality, pain, mood, and physical, cognitive, and social activity. A major goal of this project is to examine how these manifestations, fluctuations, and associations differ between SCD patients, patients with depression, and healthy older individuals. We will use smartphone-based experience sampling methods and digital memory tests to examine memory lapses, memory performance and correlates in everyday life as participants go about their daily lives. This approach overcomes some of the limitations of previous research which is primarily based on retrospective surveys. The results of this study are crucial for a more comprehensive understanding of the everyday lives of older adults with subjective memory decline, depression and healthy older adults. Thus, the study will contribute to both basic research in the field of cognitive aging as well as to applied clinical research in the field of cognitive impairment.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigators: Professorin Dr. Gizem Hülür; Professor Michael Wagner, Ph.D.