Authors

Sarah Raskin, PhD and Carol Buckheit, MS, MA; Professional Manual by Sarah Raskin, PhD, Carol Buckheit, MS, MA, and Christina Sherrod, PhD.

Description

Prospective memory, also referred to as memory for intentions, is the ability to remember to carry out a future task. Successful completion of a prospective memory task requires the ability to monitor time, keep the action to be performed in awareness periodically, remember the task to be performed and initiate the action. The MIST, a test of eight time-delayed prospective memory tasks, provides a comprehensive measure of many aspects of prospective memory functioning.

The MIST satisfies the criteria for a prospective memory test set out by Ellis and Kvavilashvili (2000):  It has a delay between encoding and retrieval of the prospective task, there is no explicit prompt when the occasion to act occurs, and there is a separate ongoing activity. However, it expands on these requirements and separates itself from other prospective memory tests by including multi-dimensional tasks, analysing the types of skill deficits that may compromise performance, and being appropriate for individuals with neurological disorders.

Although many experimental measures of prospective memory, by necessity, simplify the types of target tasks and ongoing tasks that are to be performed, MIST tasks were designed to measure the more everyday aspects of prospective memory performance. Thus, each MIST task is a real-world task that one might have to perform in daily life. MIST trials vary by cue type (time vs. event), time delay (long vs. short), and response type (action vs. verbal) for a comprehensive examination of prospective memory performance. The MIST also contains a Delayed Prospective Memory Task with a 24-hour delay, which enables you to approximate the examinee’s time span of actual memory for intentions in daily life.

Five types of errors may be analysed. Prospective memory failure errors are scored if the examinee does not give any response. Task substitution errors are scored when the examinee performs an action for a verbal item or gives a verbal response for an action item. Loss of content errors are scored when the examinee recalls that a task needs to be completed at the correct time, but either cannot recall the task or recalls the incorrect task. Loss of time errors are scored when a subject recalls a task correctly but does so at the incorrect time. Finally, random errors are scored when the subject’s error does not fit into any discernible category.

Features

Two forms (Form A and Form B) were developed to mitigate practice effects that could occur when the MIST is administered more than once to the same examinee. The MIST Introductory Kit offers only Form A materials, whereas the MIST Comprehensive Kit offers both Form A and Form B materials.
The ongoing distracter task, a word search puzzle, was chosen to be familiar, engaging, and accessible to most examinees, including those with more severe neurological dysfunction.
To evaluate retrospective memory functioning, a series of multiple choice recognition items given at the end of the testing session queries the participant on the specific tasks that were presented during the test.
The included tabletop digital clock provides an easy-to-reference time display that enables the examinee to complete the task and enables you to calculate the appropriate time for each trial.
A red pen, tape recorder, postcard, envelope, and clipboard also are required for administration. These are not included in the kit.

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