Background: Cognitive aging is highly heterogeneous, not only in performance but also in how individuals perceive their own aging. Such self-perceptions may shape emotional reactions and adaptation to memory difficulties, yet little is known about their organization in patients referred to a memory clinic for a first diagnostic consultation. The primary aim of this study was to identify the internal configuration of self-perceptions of aging in such patients. A secondary aim was to compare these patterns with those observed in older adults recruited in a research unit of experimental psychology, who reported subjective complaints but had no medical referral. Methods: In total, 130 memory clinic patients and 84 laboratory participants completed, prior to the same neuropsychological testing, a psychosocial questionnaire assessing four domains: self-perceptions of memory deficits, attitudes toward aging, aging stereotypes, and multiple facets of subjective age. Network analysis was applied to examine how these variables were interrelated and to determine their relative importance in each group. Results: Across both samples, network analyses revealed distinct organizational patterns. Patients showed a unified representational system characterized by more positive associations and centered on subjective age variables. By contrast, the laboratory group showed a two-cluster network with more negative connections, organized around negative aging stereotypes. Conclusions: These findings provide novel insights into the psychosocial profile of memory clinic patients, highlighting the added value of network approaches for capturing the interrelations among key self-representations of aging and memory, and for informing and contextualizing clinical evaluation.

L'influence des stéréotypes en vigueur dans nos sociétés fait depuis une vingtaine d'années l'objet de nombreux travaux expérimentaux permettant de rendre compte, au moins en partie, du maintien de certaines différences entre groupes sociaux, notamment en matière de performances cognitives. Les stéréotypes défavorables à certains groupes auraient pour effet de maintenir les individus qui en sont la cible à des niveaux de performance inférieurs à leur capacité réelle, contribuant ainsi aux différences observées. Précisément, la thèse défendue revient à considérer les différences souvent observées entre personnes jeunes et âgées en matière de performances mnésiques en référence à l'intervention de stéréotypes associés au vieillissement cognitif. Les quatre études rapportées non seulement nourrissent cette thèse, mais clarifient la nature des mécanismes sous-jacents à la menace exercée par les stéréotypes en question (impact sur les processus contrôles et automatiques d'accès à la mémoire), et livrent aussi des pistes pour en réduire l'influence (via l'écriture expressive) dans les situations de test. Au total, sans nier l'idée d'un vieillissement cognitif, nos résultats invitent donc à la fois à tenir compte des stéréotypes sociaux dans l'explication d'effets sinon attribués exclusivement à ce vieillissement et à poursuivre l'effort engage pour mieux comprendre comment combattre les stéréotypes au moment même de l'évaluation des performances mnésiques.

Background: Cognitive aging is highly heterogeneous, not only in performance but also in how individuals perceive their own aging. Such self-perceptions may shape emotional reactions and adaptation to memory difficulties, yet little is known about their organization in patients referred to a memory clinic for a first diagnostic consultation. The primary aim of this study was to identify the internal configuration of self-perceptions of aging in such patients. A secondary aim was to compare these patterns with those observed in older adults recruited in a research unit of experimental psychology, who reported subjective complaints but had no medical referral. Methods: In total, 130 memory clinic patients and 84 laboratory participants completed, prior to the same neuropsychological testing, a psychosocial questionnaire assessing four domains: self-perceptions of memory deficits, attitudes toward aging, aging stereotypes, and multiple facets of subjective age. Network analysis was applied to examine how these variables were interrelated and to determine their relative importance in each group. Results: Across both samples, network analyses revealed distinct organizational patterns. Patients showed a unified representational system characterized by more positive associations and centered on subjective age variables. By contrast, the laboratory group showed a two-cluster network with more negative connections, organized around negative aging stereotypes. Conclusions: These findings provide novel insights into the psychosocial profile of memory clinic patients, highlighting the central integrative role of subjective age in integrating emotional responses, aging beliefs and perceptions of memory difficulties, and underline the value of network approaches in capturing heterogeneity in cognitive aging.