Prospective Memory Remembering to complete a task in the future Examples: remembering to tell your roommate about a cool movie you saw remembering to go to the store to buy food remembering to come to class today by 2 pm PM task for you: Put up one finger if you hear me say “attention”

Prospective Memory PM vs. retrospective memory self-initiated retrieval mode vs. researcher- initiated retrieval mode retrieval mode based on cue or time (remember that) retrospective component to PM (remember what)

Prospective Memory How is PM studied? Ongoing task – models everyday tasks PM task given with ongoing task to perform at set time or when encounter cue Event-based vs. Time-based tasks Press “p” key when see the word “turtle” Press “p” key in 5 minutes

Prospective Memory How is PM studied? Tasks can be lab-based or naturalistic lab-based = cognitive + PM task on computer naturalistic = PM task in everyday life remember to call researcher when see test text or at 5 pm on Thurs use of reminders

Prospective Memory Theories of PM – Event-based tasks How much does PM task tax cognitive resources? (1) PAM View - Preparatory Attention always needed (2) MP View - Multiple Processes can be used

Prospective Memory (1)PAM View: - resources always taken from ongoing task - people monitor environment for PM cues - can be seen in slower ongoing task performance or lower accuracy when PM task given

Prospective Memory (2) MP View: - default is to use automatic processes to spontaneously retrieve PM intention when cue is presented - only when PM task is difficult or important use cognitive resources to monitor for cues - will see no change in ongoing task performance with easy PM tasks

Prospective Memory When is PM task easy? (Einstein & McDaniel, 2005) Focal task – process relevant features of PM cue when doing ongoing task - lexical decision with specific word PM cue - Count vowels with repeated vowels PM cue MP view proposes spontaneous retrieval used for focal tasks Non-focal tasks more likely to use resources

Prospective Memory PAM vs. MP Debate Studies have shown cost to ongoing task with PM task (Smith, 2003) Studies have shown no cost to ongoing task with focal PM tasks (Einstein et al., 2005) Problem with non-significant findings Smith et al. (2007) showed cost with focal task

Prospective Memory Alternative view - TAP Overlap in processing type for ongoing and PM tasks aids PM performance Studies have shown higher PM accuracy when tasks have same type of processing (Meier & Graf, 2000), but some have not found effect Focal processing might be extreme case

Prospective Memory My Recent Work Compare TAP and MP views of PM performance PM task: respond to repeated vowels Focal – Match (number of vowels) Nonfocal – Match (number of syllables) Nonfocal – Mismatch (living/nonliving)

Prospective Memory * Supports MP view McBride & Abney (in press)

Prospective Memory My Recent Work However, additional study looking at effort on the ongoing task Ongoing task: lexical decision Focal – Match: respond to specific words Nonfocal – Match: respond to animal words Nonfocal – Mismatch: respond to palindromes (rotor, radar, etc.)

Prospective Memory Supports Gradation view * * Abney & McBride (submitted)

Prospective Memory Forgetting in PM – Does PM decline as RM does? Some studies have shown PM declines with longer delays (Meier et al., 2006; Scullin & McDaniel, 2010) Others show no decline (Guynn et al., 1998; Nigro & Cicogna, 2000)

Prospective Memory My Recent Work Looked at delays of 1 to 20 min in 2 exps Exp 1Exp 2 McBride, Beckner, & Abney (M&C, 2011)

Prospective Memory Completing PM tasks – do we remember? Important for some tasks – taking medication Studies have shown that cost of PM task may continue after PM task has been completed (West et al., 2007) Intention Superiority Effect – takes time for activation of a PM intention to degrade How long does deactivation of intention take?

Prospective Memory - Summary PM = remembering to complete task in future Is attention necessary for completion? Sometimes Is overlap of processing in ongoing and PM tasks important? Probably Is forgetting in PM similar to forgetting in RM? Probably How long does it take to deactivate an intention? ??