Memory of Medical Scenarios for End-of-Life Support Preferences

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Medical Decision-Making
• Health Sciences

Background:

• Understanding memory for health scenarios is crucial for end-of-life decision-making.
• Assessing the stability of life support preferences over time is important for patient autonomy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate memory recall and recognition of health scenarios related to end-of-life support.
• To examine the stability of life support preferences over a one-month period.

Main Methods:

• Psychology students (n=36) completed the Life Support Preferences Questionnaire.
• Memory for six medical scenarios was assessed immediately and one month later.
• Recall, recognition, confidence, and decision stability were measured.

Main Results:

• Correct recall decreased and incorrect recall increased significantly over one month.
• Participants with prior personal health experiences performed worse on recall and had more errors.
• Recognition tests showed difficulty discriminating true from false information, with overconfidence reported.

Conclusions:

• Long-term memory for health scenarios is poor and prone to bias, influenced by prior knowledge.
• Despite memory deficits, individuals' life support preferences demonstrated considerable stability over one month.