Memory for the future Maria A. Brandimonte IUSOB, Naples, Italy

“With one singular exception, time’s arrow is straight. Unidirectionality of time is one of the most fundamental laws. It has relentlessly governed all happenings in the universe - cosmic, geological, physical, biological, psychological -…galaxies and stars are born and they die, living creatures are young before they grow old, causes always precede effects, there is no return to yesterday…Time’s flow is irreversible” (Tulving, 2002, 1).

Mental time travel The arrow of time in human memory Memory for the past Memory for the present Memory for the future

The psychological consequences of time perspective: Temporal construal Temporal distance Past eventsFuture events Near-PastDistant-PastDistant-FutureNear-Future T0T0 Retrospective memory Prospective memory

The concept of ”intention” Readiness to act in a specific way in the future Freud (1901) Freud (1901) Lewin (1926) Birenbaum (1930) Drew (1940) Miller, Galanter, and Pribram(1960) Loftus (1971) Meacham and Leiman (1976) Harris (1984) Einstein and McDaniel (1990) Brandimonte, Einstein, and McDaniel (1996)

Prospective memory Remembering to perform a planned action at some point in the future (realization of delayed intentions) Intentions-in-actionPrior Intentions

◊ Humans perform actions to reach goals ◊ Social value of a reliable PM ◊ PM failures are among the most common causes of human error (e.g., work accidents) Relevance of prospective memory for everyday life

◊ Action slips = failures during the execution of an intended action ◊ Loss of contents = RM failure ◊ Place-losing errors = omissions or repetitions of a particular action in the sequence ”Non-prospective-memory” failures (absent-minded errors)

A typical prospective memory failure

Defining features of a prospective memory task ◊ Other activities intervene between the time the intention is formed and the time at which the action has to be performed ◊ We must frequently interrupt an on-going task to perform the planned action (dual task)

Event-based Time-based Types of PM tasks

General phases of a PM task _ 1. Formation and encoding of intention _ 2 Retention interval _ 2. Retention interval _ 3. Performance interval _ 4. Initiation and execution of intended action _ 5. Evaluation of outcome (output monitoring)

RETROSPECTIVE (DIRECT) MEMORY: An agent directs memory search Recollection is stimulated by an external request In the laboratory:

PROSPECTIVE MEMORY: No agent directs memory search Recollection without external request stimulating retrieval In the laboratory:

◊ On-going task (e.g., recall of lists of words) ◊ Background task (execute an action on appearance of a target-event) ◊ After encoding, no reminders of the PM task ◊ Filler tasks between instructions and retrieval A typical laboratory event-based PM task

◊ Behavioural measures ◊ Electrophysiological measures ◊ Brain Imaging techniques ◊ Subjective measures Prospective memory measures

General theoretical issues 1. Strategic vs. automatic components of intention retrieval 2. How are intentions represented in memory? 3. The nature of monitoring during retention of an intention

Strategic vs. automatic components of PM retrieval (McDaniel & Einstein, 2000 Einstein et al. 2003) 1. The minimal demands view (automatic PM) 2. The prohibitively expensive view (vigilance) 3. The active maintenance view (periodic activation)

How are intentional actions represented in memory? 1. The role of motor processes in the retention of an intention ( Brandimonte & Passolunghi, 1994; Koriat et al., 1990; Koriat & Pearlman- Avnion, 2003). 2. The intention superiority effect ( Goschke & Kuhl, 1993; 1996).

The nature of monitoring during retention 1. Discontinuous monitoring? 2. Prospective memory vs. Vigilance

Temporal construal of intentional actions Distant-Future T n Near-Future T 1 T0T0 T2T2 T 3... Recoding of intention, updating, resource demanding, high-level construals Time monitoring Moderate resource demands, possibly no recoding, low level construals

◊ Medication adherence ◊ Treatment of memory-impaired patients ◊ communication Applications

◊ NeuroPage (1994) ◊ Mobile phones (2000) ◊ Voice organizer (2001) ◊ Pocket-computer memory aids (2001) ◊ MEMOS (2005) External memory aids

MEMOS: An interactive memory aid system for brain-injured patients

PROSPECTIVE MEMORY: MORE THAN “MEMORY” ◊ Attention ◊ Motivation/Emotion ◊ Motor processes ◊ Metaknowledge

Thank you for your attention