Impact of metacognition and motivation on the efficacy of strategic memory training in older adults: Analysis of specific, transfer and maintenance effects Barbara Carretti *, Erika Borella, Michela Zavagnin, Rossana De Beni Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia, 8, 35131 Padova, Italy 1. Introduction In parallel with research examining the cognitive processes affected by aging, other studies are seeking ways to slow the effect of aging on cognitive performance through cognitive training. In particular, a large body of studies has been concerned with examining the usefulness of interventions focused on episodic memory. The assumption made below is that there is a potential modifiability of cognitive functioning, even in late adulthood, usually termed plasticity (e.g., Hoyer and Verhaeghen, 2006), which when adequately stimulated can positively alter memory performance. Consistent with this premise, memory training research generally reveals an improvement in memory perform- ance in older adults through training of mnemonic strategies (see for example the meta-analysis by Verheaghen et al., 1992). Despite encouraging results, studies documenting transfer (e.g., Stigsdotter Neely and Backman, 1993; Carretti et al., 2007) and maintenance effects are rare (e.g., Willis et al., 2006; Brehmer et al., 2008; Borella et al., in press). The beneficial effects of memory training are on the one hand usually related to trained ability, and on the other very limited in duration: older adults tend to stop using the learned strategies after the training (e.g., Verhaeghen and Marcoen, 1996). A possible explanation may lie in the difficulty of modifying metacognitive and motivational attitudes (Troyer, 2001). In fact, enhancing cognitive performance alone is not sufficient to alter older adults’ reduced knowledge about a memory task’s characteristics, lower confidence about their performance in situations that require memory (self- efficacy), or motivation toward a memory task. In fact, it is well established that older adults usually perceive their memory as functioning more poorly than when they were young, and often rate themselves as having less control over memory and lower memory functioning than younger adults (Hultsch et al., 1987; Zelinski et al., 1990; Lachman et al., 1995). Such beliefs can have important consequences for memory task performance, in both laboratory and everyday life. In this context, it is well documented that memory self-efficacy is a potential mediator and/or moderator variable in explaining memory success (Bandura, 1989; Cavanaugh and Green, 1990; Berry and West, 1993; Welch and West, 1995). Enhancing maintenance of training benefits may therefore also mean addressing the beliefs older adults hold about memory, and their attitudes toward it (Lachman et al., 1992). In most cases, resistance to changing beliefs results from lack of suitable approach to them: training activities quite commonly either do not consider implicit beliefs, or else offer interventions that fail to alter negative stereotypes on the effect of aging on cognitive performance (Floyd and Scogin, 1997). These latter authors quantified the effect of memory training on subjective memory measures, using a meta-analysis, and found the size of the effect to be much smaller (0.19) than that obtained in objective memory measures (0.70), as reported by Verheaghen et al. (1992). This finding led them to conclude that without appropriate Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics xxx (2010) xxx–xxx ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 22 July 2010 Received in revised form 2 November 2010 Accepted 3 November 2010 Keywords: Memory training Metacognition and motivation Transfer effects Maintenance effects Working memory Older adults ABSTRACT The current study examines the contribution of a number of metacognitive and motivational variables in explaining specific, transfer and maintenance effects of a strategic memory training program, based on the use of mental imagery, in older adults. Participants were assessed before and after the training (immediately post-test, and at 3- and 6-month follow-up) on list recall (criterion) and working memory (transfer) tasks. At the pre-test, metacognition (use of strategies, belief about memory, control on memory) and motivational measures (cognitive engagement, self-efficacy) were also collected. The training produced a benefit in both the criterion and transfer tasks, which was maintained at follow-up. Some of the metacognitive and motivational measures, over and above the level of performance obtained at pre-test, predicted the gains in the objective memory measures. The findings confirmed the importance of considering the role of metacognitive attitudes of older adults in memory training activities. ß 2010 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 049 8276 948; fax: +39 049 8276 600. E-mail address: barbara.carretti@unipd.it (B. Carretti). G Model AGG-2379; No. of Pages 6 Please cite this article in press as: Carretti, B., et al., Impact of metacognition and motivation on the efficacy of strategic memory training in older adults: Analysis of specific, transfer and maintenance effects. Arch. Gerontol. Geriatr. (2010), doi:10.1016/j.arch- ger.2010.11.004 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/archger 0167-4943/$ – see front matter ß 2010 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.archger.2010.11.004