Visualisation of future task performance improves naturalistic prospective memory for some younger adults living with HIV disease.
Marika P Faytell, Katie L Doyle, Sylvie Naar-King and 4 others
PMID 26690580WHAT IT FOUND
Overall, brief visualization did not improve remembering to do a planned task in 60 young adults with HIV.
It helped a subgroup: people with low time-based memory completed the task 81.8% versus 16.7% with control, while those with strong time-based memory did not.
Key findings
01Brief visualization did not improve prospective memory accuracy overall across the randomized groups.
02For participants with low time-based prospective memory scores, visualization was associated with 81.8% task success versus 16.7% in control; for those with high scores, it was not associated with success (73.7% versus 79.2%).
03For participants with high learning scores, visualization was associated with 92.3% task success versus 53.3% in control; for those with impaired learning scores, it was not (64.7% versus 80.0%).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Sixty participants is small, and the groups were not identical after randomisation: they differed on race/ethnicity, depression, somatization and executive function scores. The overall comparison did not show improvement, so the positive findings were subgroup results after splitting participants by time-based memory or learning scores. The task was a single clinic assessment with a focal cue and low memory load, so it did not show whether visualization helps with everyday remembering or medication adherence. Participants were young adults, mostly young men, and there was no healthy comparison group, so the findings may not apply to older adults, women or people without HIV. The study did not measure spatial cognition or vividness of visualization, so it cannot explain why some participants benefited and others did not.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that this brief visualization improves everyday prospective memory or medication adherence for people with HIV. The overall comparison showed no improvement, and the positive results came from subgroup analyses on a single clinic task.