Perception of self-efficacy and actual performance in working memory tasks: A comparison between older and younger adults

Abstract

Aging has been characterized by a natural decline of memory, as well as by a decline in the perception of memory self-efficacy. The relationship between these two variables has been the subject of several studies, confirming that the perception of mnemonic self-efficacy affects actual performance on memory tasks. However, there is a smaller group of studies where this relationship has not been found. The objective of the present study was to compare the perception of self-efficacy of memory with performance in memory tasks in older and younger adults. Two hundred older adults and 111 university students participated in the study by responding two instruments: one Perception of Memory Self-Efficacy, and another one on Performance in Operational Memory tasks. Both instruments were constructed and adapted so that they be comparable. The results showed that older adults have a lower performance in almost all memory tasks and a slight superiority in the perception of memory self-efficacy, and a significant relationship was found between the two. On the other hand, in younger people's beliefs about their memory were slightly lower, but they performed better.