Chapter 15: Prospective Memory

Question 0

Describe a study assessing the validity of the PRMQ.

Answer 0

Participants:
-Group 1: women claiming to have prospective memory impairment
-Group 2: women reporting no problems
Results:
-Group 1 had higher PRMQ scores for both types of memory
-Also performed worse on actual prospective memory tasks
-Two groups performed equivalently on actual retrospective memory tasks
Conclusion: PRMQ provides a valid measure of prospective memory ipmairments

Question 1

Give some features of prospective memory.

Answer 1

Prospective memory: remembering to carry out some intended action in the absence of any explicit reminder to do so

- focuses on when to do something
- usually has low information content
- relevant to plans and goals we form for our daily lives

Question 2

People make an average of 15 weekly goals…what happens to them?

Answer 2

~25% not completed by week’s end
-most failures due to rescheduling or reprioritizaton
~only 3% of plans were actually forgotten

Question 3

How does stress affect prospective memory?

Answer 3

Task: participants instructed to ask a particular question when a timer sounded
Results: anxious participants were more likely to forget than were less anxious individuals
Conclusion: stress and anxiety lead to absentmindedness and prospective memory failures

Question 4

What are some possible explanations for poor prospective memory of OCD patients?

Answer 4

~Poor prospective memory could lead OCD patients to repeatedly check, but probs not
~Repeated checking behavior leads to poor prospective memory
-Numerous checking episodes leads to massive interference so it’s difficult to remember when exactly you last checked
-Never have to rely on prospective memory

Question 5

Describe a study that examined the causes of poor prospective memory in OCD patients.

Answer 5

Task:
-Experimental group: repeatedly checked a virtual gas stove
-Control group: repeatedly checked light bulbs, only had a single trial on gas stove
-final test for recall on last trial with gas stove
Results:
-Both groups had similar accuracy levels
-Experimental group had less vivid and detailed memories and was less confident in memories
SO, repeated checking can have the paradoxical effect of decreasing confidence that a task had been performed

Question 6

Describe a study that examined interruptions and prospective memory.

Answer 6

Task: answer different kinds of questions arranged in blocks
-occasionally interrupted, having to complete a new block before returning to original block
-manipulated whether they were given a pause before/after interruption or reminder (cue) to return
Question: did the subject remember to return to the interrupted block?
Results:
-4-s pause before better than no pause, cue had no effect
-10-s pause after best, cue had no effect
SO:
-reminders are not always effective
-pause before interruption allows for updating the plan
-pause after interruption helps retrieve intention of returning

Question 7

What is event-based prospective memory?

Answer 7

Event-based: remembering to perform an action when the appropriate circumstances arise

- Triggered by external cues (so, less thought given to future task)
- Yield better performance

Question 8

What is time-based prospective memory?

Answer 8

Time-based: remembering to perform a given action at a particular time

- fewer external cues and greater reliance on self-generated cues (so, results in more time spent thinking about future task)
- more likely to be forgotten

Question 9

Describe a study that examined difference between immediate and delayed execute tasks.

Answer 9

Task: when screen flashes red, hit button after completing current task
-sometimes, current task interrupted by another task
Results:
-length of delay did not affect prospective memory performance
-when delay involved an interruption, prospective memory was disrupted
-reminder eliminated adverse effects of interruption
SO? delay periods invite interruptions that can be disruptive

Question 10

Describe study that examined well- and ill-specified tasks.

Answer 10

Task:
-Lexical decision task: interrupted by prospective memory task
-Type of prospective memory task was crossed with specificity:
-well-specified: detect words “nice” and “hat,” respond after 4 and 8 minutes
-ill-specified: detect animal words, respond after 3-5 and 7-9 minutes
Results: no difference between type of prospective memory, but ill-specified tasks of either type disrupted performance more than well-specified tasks
So? more processing resources are required when intentions are ill-specified

Question 11

Compare performance of young and older adults on prospective memory tasks.

Answer 11

In the lab…Younger adults outperform older adults
IRL…Older adults typically outperform younger adults
-esp on time-based tasks, but even on event-based tasks
-likely that older adults are benefited by: devoting more time to planning, fewer distractions

Question 12

What are implementation intentions? Describe a related study.

Answer 12

Implementation intentions: detailed plans designed to ensure that a current goals is achieved
-improves chance of success and completing that goal
-increasing specificity, making a detailed action-able plan
Task:
-press a key whenever a background pattern is presented
-write down the day of the week on every paper they receive during the experiment
Results:
-elderly participants who pictured themselves writing the day of the week and verbally stated their intention performed more than 2x better than those that didn’t

Question 13

What does PAM say a successful prospective memory performance involve?

Answer 13

A monitoring process:
-says when to complete a future action
-starts when one forms an intention
-maintained until required action is performed
-makes use of capacity-consuming processes (e.g., attention)
Retrospective memory processes:
-say what action to do in the future
-required to:
-discriminate between prospective memory targets & nontargets
-recollect the intended action

Question 14

What are some predictions from PAM theory?

Answer 14

Better prospective memory performance when participants can devote full attentional and other resources to the task

- Studies show that prospective memory performance was superior with full attention than with divided attention, so attentional processes are necessary for prospective memory
- Other data shows that prospective memory failures IRL are more common when one is preoccupied with another task

Question 15

Describe a study that supports PAM theory.

Answer 15

Tasks: lexical decision, and press a button whenever target word is present
Results: on nontarget trials, lexical decision were slower for people in prospective task condition because they devoted some attention to looking for the target word
So: prospective memory tasks consume processing resources, potentially impairing other tasks
Also…people with high attention/WM capacity are better on prospective memory tasks

Question 16

Describe the multiprocess theory of prospective memory. When will detection of target cues be automatic?

Answer 16

~Prospective memory may not always require focal attention.
-We can sometimes perform prospective tasks automatically without active monitoring
-Various cognitive processes (including attentional processes) can be used to perform the task
~Detection of target cues will usually be automatic when:
-cue and target action are highly associated
-cue is conspicuous/salient
-ongoing process directs attention to the relevant aspects of cue

Question 17

Describe a study that provides evidence for the multiprocess theory and shows that some people monitor, while others complete tasks automatically.

Answer 17

Main task: determine whether a word fits in a provided sentence
Prospective task: detect a target word in the sentence
Results:
-54% slower when two tasks were combined –> monitored with attention
-42% just as fast as when two tasks were combined –> processed automatically
-about equal accuracy

Question 18

Describe study comparing PAM and multiprocess theory.

Answer 18

Task:
-Target presented for prospective task. If participants later saw this word, they should press a key
-Followed by: seven imagery ratings, lexical decision for 18 items, seven imagery ratings
-Participants told to ignore prospective task
Predictions:
~PAM: without an intention to perform the task, there should be no monitoring and no disruption to lexical decisions
~MT: automatic processing occurs without intention, so will still disrupt lexical decisions
Results: prospective memory targets slowed down lexical decisions
So: consistent with MT