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ERIC Number: EJ1378276
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023-Apr
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0278-7393
EISSN: EISSN-1939-1285
Available Date: N/A
Benefits from Prospective Memory Offloading Depend on Memory Load and Reminder Type
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, v49 n4 p590-606 Apr 2023
Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to remember to complete a task at the appropriate moment in the future. Past research has found reminders can improve PM performance in both laboratory and naturalistic settings, but few projects have examined the circumstances when and what types of reminders are most beneficial. Three experiments in the present study tested the influence of reminders in an event-based PM task under different cognitive loads. An additional study examined how effective reminders of different types were. In Experiments 1 (specific targets) and 2 (nonspecific targets), load was manipulated by having participants respond to a single (low load) or multiple (high load) targets. In Experiment 3, the association between target-action word pairs was manipulated by presenting strongly associated pairs (low load) or weakly associated pairs (high load). Experiment 4 used target-action word pairs and varied the type of reminder. Participants in the reminder conditions had target (Experiments 1 and 2), target and action (Experiment 3) or target and/or action (Experiment 4) reminders listed at the top of the screen throughout the PM task. Across the first 3 experiments, it was found that the benefit of reminders was greater under high load than low load conditions. Experiment 4 found that target-action reminders improved PM, while target-only or action-only reminders did not. Importantly, the improvements in PM from reminders occurred without cost to ongoing task performance. Together these results suggest that reminders can be beneficial for reducing PM failures, particularly under high load, without the potential downside of increased effort expenditure.
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Texas (Arlington)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A