Table 7.
Ten most frequently occurring cognitive self-report items
| Item theme and sample item stems | n (%) of total items | n (%) of measures that contain item |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Memory change | 36 (5.6%) | 14 (41.2%) |
| How is your memory compared to the way it was 10 years ago? | ||
| Do you feel you remember things less well than you did a year ago? | ||
| 2. Memory for names of people (longstanding and recently acquired names) | 32 (5.0%) | 19 (55.9%) |
| Do you find you forget people’s names? | ||
| How is your ability to remember the names of close friends and relatives? | ||
| 3. General memory problems | 30 (4.7%) | 16 (47.1%) |
| Have you noticed difficulty with your memory? | ||
| Do you feel like your memory has become worse? | ||
| 4. Remembering where you put common objects/finding familiar objects | 29 (4.5%) | 19 (55.9%) |
| Do you feel you are forgetting where things were placed? | ||
| Finding everyday objects? (e.g. keys, wallet) | ||
| 5. Word finding | 19 (3.0%) | 15 (44.1%) |
| I’m worse at finding the word I want to use in a conversation. | ||
| Do you have more difficulty finding the right words (e.g. feeling like the word is on the tip of your tongue)? | ||
| 6. Remembering appointments | 17 (2.7%) | 15 (44.1%) |
| How is your ability to remember appointments correctly? | ||
| When you actually forget in the following situations, how serious of a problem do you consider the memory problem to be?: appointments | ||
| 7. Remembering recent events | 16 (2.5%) | 13 (38.2%) |
| Do you have more trouble remembering things that have happened recently? | ||
| I forget details of what I did or what happened the day before. | ||
| 8. Remembering recent conversations/things told to you | 15 (2.3%) | 14 (41.2%) |
| Do you have difficulty remembering a conversation from a few days ago? | ||
| I forget things that I was told yesterday or a few days ago. | ||
| 9. Memory for intentions | 15 (2.3%) | 12 (35.3%) |
| Beginning to do something and forgetting what you were doing | ||
| Remembering what you entered a room to do | ||
| 10. Remembering phone numbers (frequently used or just checked) | 14 (2.2%) | 8 (23.5%) |
| Trouble recalling frequently used phone numbers | ||
| Having trouble remembering a telephone number you just looked up |