Task Importance Affects Event-Based Prospective Memory Performance in Adults with HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders and HIV-Infected Young Adults with Problematic Substance Use

AbstractTwo experiments were conducted to examine the effects of task importance on event-based prospective memory (PM) in separate samples of adults with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) and HIV-infected young adults with substance use disorders (SUD). All participants completed three conditions of an ongoing lexical decision task: (1) without PM task requirements; (2) with PM task requirements that emphasized the importance of the ongoing task; and (3) with PM task requirements that emphasized the importance of the PM task. In both experiments, all HIV+ groups showed the expected increase in response costs to the ongoing task when the PM task’s importance was emphasized. In Experiment 1, individuals with HAND showed significantly lower PM accuracy as compared to HIV+ subjects without HAND when the importance of the ongoing task was emphasized, but improved significantly and no longer differed from HIV+ subjects without HAND when the PM task was emphasized. A similar pattern of findings emerged in Experiment 2, whereby HIV+ young adults with SUD (especially cannabis) showed significant improvements in PM accuracy when the PM task was emphasized. Findings suggest that both HAND and SUD may increase the amount of cognitive attentional resources that need to be allocated to support PM performance in persons living with HIV infection. (JINS, 2014, 21, 1–11)

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Prior Task Experience and Comparable Stimulus Exposure Nullify Focal and Nonfocal Prospective Memory Retrieval Differences

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470218.2016.1217891 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 70 (10) ◽

pp. 1997-2006 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Jason L. Hicks ◽

Bryan A. Franks ◽

Samantha N. Spitler

Keyword(s):

Prospective Memory ◽

Memory Retrieval ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Decision Task ◽

Single Word ◽

Ongoing Task ◽

Instruction Condition ◽

Focal Condition ◽

Task Experience ◽

Event Based

We explored the nature of focal versus nonfocal event-based prospective memory retrieval. In the context of a lexical decision task, people received an intention to respond to a single word (focal) in one condition and to a category label (nonfocal) for the other condition. Participants experienced both conditions, and their order was manipulated. The focal instruction condition was a single word presented multiple times. In Experiment 1, the stimuli in the nonfocal condition were different exemplars from a category, each presented once. In the nonfocal condition retrieval was poorer and reaction times were slower during the ongoing task as compared to the focal condition, replicating prior findings. In Experiment 2, the stimulus in the nonfocal condition was a single category exemplar repeated multiple times. When this single-exemplar nonfocal condition followed in time the single-item focal condition, focal versus nonfocal performance was virtually indistinguishable. These results demonstrate that people can modify their stimulus processing and expectations in event-based prospective memory tasks based on experience with the nature of prospective cues and with the ongoing task.

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Longer ongoing task delay intervals exacerbate prospective memory deficits in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND)

Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology ◽

10.1080/13803395.2012.654764 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 34 (4) ◽

pp. 416-427 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Erin E. Morgan ◽

Erica Weber ◽

Alexandra S. Rooney ◽

Igor Grant ◽

Steven Paul Woods ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prospective Memory ◽

Memory Deficits ◽

Neurocognitive Disorders ◽

Ongoing Task ◽

Hiv Associated Neurocognitive Disorders

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Investigating the effects of ongoing-task bias on prospective memory

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/1747021820914915 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 73 (9) ◽

pp. 1495-1513 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Luke Strickland ◽

Shayne Loft ◽

Andrew Heathcote

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Lexical Decision ◽

Prospective Memory ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

Decision Task ◽

Ongoing Task ◽

Future Event ◽

Decision Control ◽

Event Based ◽

Parameter Values

Event-based prospective memory (PM) refers to the cognitive processes required to perform a planned action upon encountering a future event. Event-based PM studies engage participants in an ongoing task (e.g., lexical decision-making) with an instruction to make an alternative PM response to certain items (e.g., items containing “tor”). The Prospective Memory Decision Control (PMDC) model, which provides a quantitative process account of ongoing-task and PM decisions, proposes that PM and ongoing-task processes compete in a race to threshold. We use PMDC to test whether, as proposed by the Delay Theory of PM costs, PM can be improved by biasing decision-making against a specific ongoing-task choice, so that the PM process is more likely to win the race. We manipulated bias in a lexical decision task with an accompanying PM intention. In one condition, a bias was induced against deciding items were words, and in another, a bias was induced against deciding items were non-words. The bias manipulation had little effect on PM accuracy but did affect the types of ongoing-task responses made on missed PM trials. PMDC fit the observed data well and verified that the bias manipulation had the intended effect on ongoing-task processes. Furthermore, although simulations from PMDC could produce an improvement in PM accuracy due to ongoing-task bias, this required implausible parameter values. These results illustrate the importance of understanding event-based PM in terms of a comprehensive model of the processes that interact to determine all aspects of task performance.

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