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Updated: Apr 16, 2026

Highlighting and Reducing the Impact of Negative Aging Stereotypes During Older Adults' Cognitive Testing
Published on: January 24, 2020
Destination memory and cognitive theory of mind in normal ageing
Mohamad El Haj1, Stéphane Raffard2,3, Marie-Christine Gély-Nargeot2
1a SCALab UMR CNRS 9193 , University of Lille , Lille , France.
Abstract:
Destination memory is the ability to remember the destination to which a piece of information has been addressed (e.g., "Did I tell you about the promotion?"). This ability is found to be impaired in normal ageing. Our work aimed to link this deterioration to the decline in theory of mind. Forty younger adults (M age = 23.13 years, SD = 4.00) and 36 older adults (M age = 69.53 years, SD = 8.93) performed a destination memory task. They also performed the False-belief test addressing cognitive theory of mind and the Reading the mind in the eyes test addressing affective theory of mind. Results showed significant deterioration in destination memory, cognitive theory of mind and affective theory of mind in the older adults. The older adults' performance on destination memory was significantly correlated with and predicted by their performance on cognitive theory of mind. Difficulties in the ability to interpret and predict others' mental states are related to destination memory decline in older adults.
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