Design-Effects in Prospective and Retrospective Memory for Actions

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.

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Prospective Memory

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199336746.013.9 ◽

2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rebekah E. Smith

Keyword(s):

Prospective Memory ◽

Memory Task ◽

Future Research ◽

Prospective Memory Task ◽

Retrospective Memory ◽

Memory Processes ◽

Intended Action ◽

Event Based ◽

New Framework

Prospective memory involves remembering to perform an action when there is a delay between forming the intention to act and the point at which the action can be carried out. The distinction between time- and event-based prospective memory, the typical laboratory paradigm, and the concept of cost as a measure of the extent to which attention is allocated to the prospective memory task at the expense of other activities are described. Two theories of prospective memory are compared. Also noted is that prospective memory involves retrospective memory processes, for remembering what the intended action is and remembering when the action is to be performed, and a prospective component for remembering that something is to be done. The new concept of metaintentions or metaintentional processes is introduced along with a new framework for organizing existing research and motivating future research. The literature is reviewed within the structure of this new framework.

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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.

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