Assessing Prospective Memory after Stroke: a Comparison of Self-Report and Performance-Based Measures

Prospective memory (PM) is essential for daily functioning, allowing individuals to remember planned actions while engaged in other tasks. PM deficits can significantly affect quality of life, particularly in clinical populations, such as patients with stroke. The present study aimed to compare PM failures between patients with stroke and healthy controls using both a performance-based task and a self-report measure.

Thirty-five patients with stroke and forty healthy controls participated in the study. All participants completed the Prospective scale of the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) and the event-based task from the Miami Prospective Memory Test (MPMTevent).

Patients with stroke were significantly more likely to exhibit impaired performance on the MPMTevent than healthy controls. However, no significant differences were observed between the two groups in PRMQ scores. This finding indicates that, despite their lower performance on MPMTevent individuals with stroke did not subjectively perceive a higher frequency of PM failures in everyday life than healthy controls.

These findings suggest a dissociation between objective PM performance and self-assessment in patients with stroke, highlighting the role of metacognitive awareness. A lack of such awareness could hinder the adoption of effective strategies to improve PM performance. These results emphasize the need for a comprehensive assessment of PM that integrates both performance-based and self-reports measures to fully capture deficits in patients with stroke.