Title: Memory and the self in ageing
Funder: Economic and Social Research Council

Abstract: What is this research about? Our ability to remember the past is important for many reasons. Every day we use our memory to remember where things are and how things work. But our memory also plays a vital role in helping us remember who we are. Our memories enable us to have a sense of self: we are what we remember. This raises the important question of what happens to our sense of self when we cannot remember our past. I am a psychologist with particular interest in this fundamental link between autobiographical memory (memory for life events) and the self. This research will aim to find out how memory supports the self in both normal ageing and in dementia. The goal is to investigate ways to improve quality of life for older adults (both with and without dementia) by understanding how memories support the self. Why is this important? Improving well-being in our ageing population is a fundamentally important issue for the social sciences. The cost of dementia is estimated at £17.03 billion per year (Dementia UK, 2007), and the Alzheimer's Society predicts that by 2021 there will be more than 1 million people in the UK living with dementia. It is therefore a critical priority to develop cost-effective approaches that will improve well-being in dementia. Psychologists have shown that the way we remember the past tends to change with age. Older adults are typically better at remembering facts about events (e.g. we went on holiday to Spain) than specific details (e.g. what it felt like getting off the plane in the sunshine), whereas younger adults are good at remembering both types of information. Although we have identified such age-related changes in memory, there has been little research on the impact that these changes might have on our sense of self and our well-being. Moreover, previous research has shown that memory problems in dementia can lead to a loss of identity, and that this loss reduces well-being. How will this research be organised? Project 1: Ho perceptions of the self change in healthy ageing. This project will explore how the ways people describe themselves (e.g. I am happy; I am a father) change with age. This will have important implications for understanding identity in ageing and will produce a set of normed data to inform projects 2 and 3. Project 2: How do memories support the self in healthy ageing versus dementia. This project will use a self and memory task (the IAM Task) to investigate how memories are used to support information about the self in adults of different ages, and in older adults with dementia. The task uses identities (e.g. I am a father) as memory cues (e.g. the day my daughter was born). The IAM Task is an innovative tool that I developed during my PhD and has been used to understand the link between self and memory in healthy adults, and in people with amnesia and schizophrenia. Project 3: How to bolster well-being in healthy ageing by using self-supporting memories. This project will compare memories linked with positive identity cues (e.g. I am kind) and ordinary events (e.g. memories about shopping). It is predicted that thinking about memories associated with positive identities will improve well-being and mood, compared to thinking about ordinary memories. What impact will this research have? The main impact of this research will be improving well-being in older adults by developing our understanding of how memory affects self and well-being in normal ageing and dementia. Results will be shared with academics and clinicians who develop and deliver psychological treatments for dementia. Thus, results will be fed directly to those who can use them to develop new and improved treatments. This research will also be used to promote social science research to the general public. I will present results at a number of public events (e.g. British Science Festival) and via a project website.


Research activity codes: 2.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS;1.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PROCESSES
Health categories: MENTAL HEALTH;NEUROLOGICAL