Acute social stress before the planning phase improves memory performance in a complex real life-related prospective memory task

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which the retention interval between intention formation and the execution of the action affects the occurrence of remembering and its accuracy. 126 subjects (48 men and 78 women) between 18 and 24 years participated in a two-phase experiment. An event-based prospective memory task was assigned at the end of the first experimental session, which required reporting a message to the second experimenter at the beginning of the second experimental session. The length of the interval of time between the formation of the intention and its execution varied (10 minutes, 2 days, 2 weeks). Participants were randomly assigned to the three conditions (42 each). A post-experimental interview was carried out in order to find out the strategies that subjects employed to retrieve the message and the importance they attributed to the task. Results indicate that the delay affected neither the occurrence of remembering nor its accuracy, and that the importance attributed to the planned action improved the likelihood of prospective remembering. Furthermore, results seem to indicate that external reminders do not improve prospective memory. Further implications of the finding were discussed.

Download Full-text

A-181 Comparing Virtual Reality and Analog Prospective Memory Performance

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology ◽

10.1093/arclin/acaa068.181 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 35 (6) ◽

pp. 976-976

Author(s):

Coldiron A ◽

Smith L ◽

Helphrey J ◽

Sawyer J ◽

Flores E ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Young Adults ◽

Virtual Environment ◽

Prospective Memory ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Memory Task ◽

Prospective Memory Task ◽

Within Subjects ◽

Better Than ◽

Prospective Memory Performance

Abstract Objective A virtual reality-based prospective memory task was designed to examine whether a virtual environment would allow for a deeper level of processing and aid prospective memory performance. The purpose of this study was to compare young adults’ performance on analog and virtual reality-based prospective memory tasks. Method Young adult college students (N = 40; ages 18–26) completed both analog and virtual reality prospective memory tasks in the Virtual Kitchen Protocol. Results A within-subjects analysis of variance found that participants performed better on the analog prospective memory task than in virtual reality, F(1,39) = 12.46, p = .001. Conclusions Results suggest that the virtual environment served as a source of distraction rather than a memory aid for young adults’ prospective memory ability. However, this added level of distraction may mimic everyday prospective memory settings better than traditional analog tasks, suggesting that virtual prospective memory tasks may be able to better assess everyday prospective memory abilities.

Download Full-text

Preliminary Remarks on Type of Task and Delay in Children's Prospective Memory

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.2002.95.2.515 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 95 (2) ◽

pp. 515-519 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Giovanna Nigro ◽

Vincenzo Paolo Senese ◽

Ornella Natullo ◽

Ida Sergi

Keyword(s):

Retention Interval ◽

Prospective Memory ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Memory Task ◽

Prospective Memory Task ◽

Target Time ◽

Task Time ◽

Event Based ◽

Principal Task ◽

Prospective Memory Performance

This study investigated the extent to which the type of task influences children's prospective memory performance. 80 subjects, aged 7 to 11 yr. participated in an experiment in which the type of task (time-based vs event-based) and the retention interval (5 min. vs 10 min.) varied. The prospective memory task was embedded in a principal task lasting about 15 min. and required subjects perform an action at a given time or in response to a specific cue. Analysis indicated that the delay was associated with prospective memory performance only on a time-based task in which the intention has to be performed after 10 min. but not age. Analysis indicated also that time monitoring was associated with shorter latency between the target time and the execution of the intention on the time-based task. Implications were discussed.

Download Full-text

Design-Effects in Prospective and Retrospective Memory for Actions

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027//1618-3169.50.1.4 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 4-15 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Petra Jahn ◽

Johannes Engelkamp

Keyword(s):

Prospective Memory ◽

Memory Task ◽

Prospective Memory Task ◽

Retrospective Memory ◽

Ample Evidence ◽

Relational Information ◽

Design Effects ◽

Verbal Tasks ◽

Within Subjects

There is ample evidence that memory for action phrases such as “open the bottle” is better in subject-performed tasks (SPTs), i.e., if the participants perform the actions, than in verbal tasks (VTs), if they only read the phrases or listen to them. It is less clear whether also the sole intention to perform the actions later, i.e., a prospective memory task (PT), improves memory compared with VTs. Inconsistent findings have been reported for within-subjects and between-subjects designs. The present study attempts to clarify the situation. In three experiments, better recall for SPTs than for PTs and for PTs than for VTs were observed if mixed lists were used. If pure lists were used, there was a PT effect but no SPT over PT advantage. The findings were discussed from the perspective of item-specific and relational information.

Download Full-text