AUTHOR=Tsang Alex Pak Lik , Chan Stephen Cheong Yu , Lu Hui Jing , Wong Chi Chung 

TITLE=Effects of age-based stereotype threat on time-based prospective memory

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1379160

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1379160

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>The present study aimed to investigate the effect of a blatant activation of age-based stereotype threats (ABST) on time-based prospective memory (TBPM) in older adults. A sample of 74 adults from Hong Kong was randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions: the stereotyped condition (<italic>n</italic> = 36) or the neutral condition (<italic>n</italic> = 38). Participants were asked to read fictitious news reports related to dementia (stereotyped condition) or the importance of English oral skills (neutral condition). After, all participants performed a TBPM task using the Chinese lexical decision task as an ongoing task block. The results indicate a main effect of ABST on TBPM accuracy. Specifically, older adults under a blatant activation of ABST demonstrated lower TBPM accuracy (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05, <italic>ηp<sup>2</sup></italic> = 0.08). Further analyses based on age groups demonstrated that TBPM accuracy was only impaired in older participants (aged 70–80 years) (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05, <italic>ηp<sup>2</sup></italic> = 0.19). The study, for the first time, provides evidence that ABST can disrupt TBPM performance in older adults, especially when cues are blatantly activated.</p>