Older adults feel more motivated to remember health tasks when others benefit

Older adults are more motivated to carry out health-related memory tasks when those tasks help someone else, according to a new study published in the European Journal of Ageing. The research, led by Maria A. Nygaard and colleagues including Louise H. Phillips, examined how social and motivational factors shape the intentions older adults form about future health tasks.

The study focused on prospective memory, the ability to form a specific intention and remember to carry it out at an appropriate future time. This capacity is critical in health-related contexts, such as remembering to take medication, and previous research has found that it declines significantly with age. Motivation is known to play a vital role in prospective memory, and earlier work indicated that older adults are particularly motivated by the social relevance of prospective memory tasks.

However, little was previously known about the role of perceived social impact in older adults’ health intentions. The current study was designed to explore the motivation behind carrying out future intentions, combining quantitative ratings with qualitative reports from participants about their daily lives.

A total of 116 participants took part, with an average age of 70.78 years. Each participant self-rated their motivation for health-related tasks that had either a social or a non-social aspect. A social task example was reminding your partner to take their medications, while a non-social example was remembering to take your own medications.

The quantitative results showed that some aspects of motivation were enhanced by the social context. Specifically, ratings of impact on others, effort, and enjoyment were higher for the social version of the task. Other aspects, namely personal reward and relatedness, were not enhanced by social context.

The researchers also gathered qualitative information about health-related prospective memory tasks in participants’ daily lives and their links to social motivation. Most participants reported helping someone else to remember their health-related prospective memory tasks, and they described experiencing positive emotions as a result of helping others.

According to the authors, the findings may have implications for motivating people to remember health tasks, which could aid independent living and quality of life for older adults. The study is published as open access research, with the article shared early to provide faster access to peer-reviewed, accepted research; this version is subject to further edits and will be replaced by the final Version of Record.

Subject of Research: Social and motivational factors in older adults' health-related prospective memory intentions

Article Title: Self-reported social and motivational factors in health-related future intentions amongst older adults

Article References: Nygaard, M. A., Rubínová, E., Allan, J. L., Stasová, J., & Phillips, L. H. (2026). Self-reported social and motivational factors in health-related future intentions amongst older adults. European Journal of Ageing. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-026-00947-4

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s10433-026-00947-4

Keywords: prospective memory, older adults, motivation, social context, health intentions, medication adherence, ageing, independent living, quality of life, social motivation, Self-reported, social