The Prospective Memory Concerns Questionnaire (PMCQ) is a self-report measure designed to assess everyday metacognitive concerns about remembering to carry out intended actions in the future.
This page provides access to the original scale, scoring information, administration instructions, translations into other languages, informant report scale, and other resources.
This scale can be used in research and/or clinical settings.
The scale is intended for use with adults aged over 18 in the general population for the screening of prospective memory concerns. In clinical settings, the scale may be used for treatment planning and outcome management.
As clinical norms are not currently available, this tool should not be used as a diagnostic measure.
There are two version of the PMCQ - the original version and the informant version. Both can be downloaded below.
The original 35-item questionnaire is a self-report questionnaire containing 3 subscales: Forgetting Behaviours, Memory Concerns, and Retrieval Failures.
Sugden, N., Thomas, M., Kiernan, M., & Wilesmith, M. (2021). Validation of the prospective memory concerns questionnaire (PMCQ). Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 15, 686850. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.686850
The informant PMCQ (PMCQi) scale includes informant versions of the original 35-item scale questions.
This scale is designed to be completed by someone who knows the individual well and can be used alongside the original self-report PMCQ. This scale can be used to provide information about individual’s insight into their own memory concerns by comparing self and informant reports.
Sugden N, Driscoll J, Fowler T, Grant L, Ray A. Validation of the Prospective Memory Concerns Questionnaire Informant Scale (PMCQi): How personality and self/proxy relationships influence prospective memory ratings.
Psychol Assess. 2026 Jun 4. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0001482. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42241092.
Translations of the scale into Spanish (Mexican and US), French, Japanese, Indonesian, German, and Kurdish are currently being developed and will be posted on this website once published
We also welcome adaptation and translations of the PMCQ into other languages. If you would like to translate the scale, please ensure you do the following:
The PMCQ and its adapted versions are in the public domain, and free to use/copy.
However, we request that you please cite the PMCQ (and/or relevant adaptations used) in any publications as follows:
Sugden, N., Thomas, M., Kiernan, M., & Wilesmith, M. (2021). Validation of the prospective memory concerns questionnaire (PMCQ). Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 15, 686850. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.686850
We would be interested in how the scale is being used in research and clinical settings, please contact us by email let us know about any projects you might be using the scales in.
No, the scale is free to use. However, we request that you include a citation for the PMCQ in any publications produced using the scale.
No, not yet. Normative data is not yet available for clinical samples and therefore cut-off scores are not available.
The PMCQ has been used in research investigating prospective memory concerns. Projects including this scale have investigated prospective memory and personality relationships, prospective memory relationships with ADHD and depression in higher education students, and relationships between prospective memory concerns and PTSD.
In clinical settings, the scale has been used to support treatment planning and outcome measurement. For example, the scale has been used in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Health Operation Mend veteran rehabilitation program.
If you are looking for the individual to complete the scale, you should use the original PMCQ (35 items).
If you are looking for a scale for someone to rate a person’s prospective memory, you should use the informant report version.
If the person completing the scale is from a non-English speaking background, you should use the appropriate adapted/translated version.
The 42-item version of the scale was developed in a PhD project. Following the PhD project, the scale was revised and underwent further validation, resulting in a 35-item version that was published.
Therefore, you should use the validated 35-item published version.
We are open to collaboration on translations and other projects using the PMCQ.
If you would like to collaborate or have any questions, please follow me on LinkedIn or you can contact me below:
