A Multinomial Model of Event-Based Prospective Memory.

Prospective memory is remembering to perform an action in the future. The authors introduce the 1st formal model of event-based prospective memory, namely, a multinomial model that includes 2 separate parameters related to prospective memory processes. The 1st measures preparatory attentional processes, and the 2nd measures retrospective memory processes. The model was validated in 4 experiments. Manipulations of instructions to place importance on either the prospective memory task or the background task (Experiments 1 and 2) and manipulations of distinctiveness of prospective memory targets (Experiment 2) had expected effects on model parameters, as did a manipulation of the difficulty of prospective memory target encoding (Experiments 3 and 4). An alternative model was also evaluated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Apolipoprotein E and Prospective Memory in Normally Aging Adults.

The ε4 allele of apolipoprotein E (APOE) is an established risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, despite uncertainty as to its effect on cognitive function in normal aging. Some evidence suggests poor episodic memory and executive functioning in ε4 allele carriers. Prospective memory has been overlooked in investigations of the relationship between APOE and cognition. The authors used a laboratory paradigm to examine the relationship between prospective memory and APOE status in healthy elderly adults, and they varied the association (high vs. low) between a target word and a response word. The authors found a significant deficit in prospective memory for ε4 allele carriers but no effect of association in either group. The results suggest the deficit was due to failure of the prospective component of the task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the Relationship Between Effort Toward an Ongoing Task and Cue Detection in Event-Based Prospective Memory.

In recent theories of event-based prospective memory, researchers have debated what degree of resources are necessary to identify a cue as related to a previously established intention. In order to simulate natural variations in attention, the authors manipulated effort toward an ongoing cognitive task in which intention-related cues were embedded in 3 experiments. High effort toward the ongoing task resulted in decreased prospective memory only when the cognitive processing required to identify the cue was similar to the cognitive processing required to complete the ongoing activity. When the required processing was different for the 2 tasks, cue detection was not affected by manipulated effort, despite there being an overall cost to decision latencies in the ongoing tasks from possessing the intention. Resource allocation policies and factors that affect them are proposed to account for ongoing vs. prospective memory task performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Meta-Analytic Review of Prospective Memory and Aging.

A meta-analysis of prospective memory (PM) studies revealed that in laboratory settings younger participants outperform older participants on tests of both time- and event-based PM (rs=-.39 and -.34, respectively). Event-based PM tasks that impose higher levels of controlled strategic demand are associated with significantly larger age effects than event-based PM tasks that are supported by relatively more automatic processes (rs=-.40 vs. -.14, respectively). However, contrary to the prevailing view in the literature, retrospective memory as measured by free recall is associated with significantly greater age-related decline (r=-.52) than PM, and older participants perform substantially better than their younger counterparts in naturalistic PM studies (rs=.35 and .52 for event- and time-based PM, respectively). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Special issue editorial: Prospective memory in 2010.

In order to raise awareness of prospective memory, this special issue features contemporary research on the topic. The occasion for a special issue was the 3rd International Conference on Prospective Memory, which was held in July 2010 in Vancouver, and which brought together nearly 100 scientists from 16 different countries. The conference showcased new research, as well as a host of breakthrough discoveries and methodological insights, and it served to underscore why prospective memory deserves and is likely to receive more prominence in the future. As has been and continues to be the case for retrospective memory, however, most prospective memory research seems to be focused on its episodic component, on questions such as the following: Once a plan has been made, and my attention has turned elsewhere, how does that plan come back to mind at the appropriate time or context? Why do plans sometimes to pop into mind all of the time, including when our attention ought to be focused elsewhere? Why does an obvious cue, such as the mailbox in my way, sometimes fail to reactivate a previous intention? What strategies, if any, are available for improving prospective memory? The articles in this issue address these and related questions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Hybrid-Similarity Exemplar Model for Predicting Distinctiveness Effects in Perceptual Old-New Recognition.

In 2 sets of experiments, the authors investigated the basis for old-item distinctiveness effects in perceptual recognition, whereby distinctive old items are recognized with higher probability than are typical old items. In Experiment 1, distinctive old items were defined as those lying in isolated regions of a continuous-dimension similarity space. In this case, any beneficial effects of distinctiveness were absent or small, regardless of the structure of the test list used to assess recognition memory. In Experiment 2, distinctive items were defined as those objects containing certain discrete, individuating features. In this case, large old-item distinctive effects were observed, with the nature of the effects being modulated by the structure of the test lists. A hybrid-similarity exemplar model, combining elements of continuous-dimension distance and discrete-feature matching, was used to account for these distinctiveness effects in the recognition data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Distinctiveness and repetition in item recognition.

We scrutinized the hypothesis that the distinctiveness of unrepeated stimuli yields an enhancement of their memorability, when contrasted with repeated stimuli. In three conditions of a variant of von Restorff's (1933) isolation paradigm, unrepeated stimuli were respectively rendered either distinctive, by intermixing them with repeated stimuli from a different category, or nondistinctive, by having both unrepeated and repeated items originate in the same category or categories. The recognition-memory strength difference between unrepeated and repeated stimuli, in terms of a signal-detection measure of sensitivity, was less when the unrepeated stimuli were distinctive than when they were not distinctive. This implies that the relative weakness of unrepeated stimuli may be offset by distinctiveness that accrues from their infrequency. These findings are considered with reference to contemporary theoretical treatments of distinctiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual categorizations of love and anger cues in schizophrenics.

The 1st study identified 4 filmed scenes indicative of high love, high anger, medium love, and medium anger. The 2nd study compared 30 good premorbid schizophrenics and 30 normals on the high love and high anger scenes. They were not differentiated on the high love scene. On the high anger scene, the normals reported significantly more anger than the good premorbids. The 3rd study evaluated 48 poor premorbid schizophrenics, 48 good premorbid schizophrenics, and 48 normals on 4 scenes of high love, high anger, medium love, and medium anger. The good premorbids and the normals were not different on the high love scene, but significantly different from the poor premorbids. On the high anger scene, good and poor premorbids were significantly different from normals. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cue-Focused and Reflexive-Associative Processes in Prospective Memory Retrieval.

Several theories of event-based prospective memory were evaluated in 3 experiments. The results depended on the association between the target event and the intended action. For associated target-action pairs (a) preexposure of nontargets did not reduce prospective memory, (b) divided attention did not reduce prospective memory, (c) prospective memory was better than when the target event and intended action were not associated, and (d) prospective memory was characterized by retrieval of the precise intended action. These results converge on the view that retrieval is mediated by a reflexive-associative process. In contrast, for unassociated pairs (a) preexposure of nontargets reduced prospective memory, and (b) divided attention reduced prospective memory. These results implicate cue-focused retrieval processes and are most consistent with a discrepancy-plus-search model. The entire pattern implicates both cue-focused and reflexive-associative processes and more generally supports a multiprocess framework of prospective memory (M. A. McDaniel & G. O. Einstein, 2000). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Metacognition and False Recognition in Alzheimer's Disease: Further Exploration of the Distinctiveness Heuristic.

The distinctiveness heuristic is a response mode in which participants expect to remember vivid details of an experience and make recognition decisions on the basis of this metacognitive expectation. The authors examined whether the distinctiveness heuristic could be engaged to reduce false recognition in a repetition-lag paradigm in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Patients with AD were able to use the distinctiveness heuristic--though not selectively--and thus they showed reduction of both true and false recognition. The authors suggest that patients with AD can engage in decision strategies on the basis of the metacognitive expectation associated with use of the distinctiveness heuristic, but the patients' episodic memory impairment limits both the scope and effectiveness of such strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A hierarchy of Perceptual usefulness of geometrical cues in an overlearned dial-reading task.

How is level of performance related to cue usefulness in training for dial-reading tasks? S were 21 students. "Examination booklets were prepared containing 24 pages with 12 'dials' of the same geometrical configuration on each page. A total number of 288 'dials' had to be read and recorded by each S… . A rank order of 'perceptual cue-utility' was found." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3LK86G. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of processing resources in age-related prospective and retrospective memory within old age.

This study investigated the role of processing speed and working memory in prospective and retrospective memory (i.e., free recall) performance within old age. The aim was to examine age-related differences in both memory domains within the age range of 65 to 80 years. The sample consisted of 361 older adults from Wave 1 data of the Zurich Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Aging. Using structural equation modeling, prospective memory, free recall, working memory, and processing speed were identified as latent constructs. Age effects were found to be larger for prospective memory than for free recall. Furthermore, when controlling for individual differences in working memory and processing speed, unique age effects remained for prospective, but not retrospective, memory performance. Results indicate that, within old age, prospective memory represents a distinct memory construct that is partially independent of age-related individual differences in speed of processing, working memory, and retrospective memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dynamics of intention retrieval and coordination of action in event-based prospective memory.

Event-based prospective memory requires responding to cues in the environment that are associated with a previously established intention. Some researchers believe that intentions reside in memory with an above baseline level of activation, a phenomenon called the intention superiority effect. The authors of this study predicted that intention superiority would be masked by additional cognitive processes associated with successful event-based prospective memory. These additional processes include noticing the cue, retrieving the intention, and coordinating intention execution with the ongoing activity, In 3 experiments, intention superiority was demonstrated by faster latencies to the ongoing activity on failed prospective trials and the existence of the additional processes was demonstrated by slower latencies on successful trials. This study demonstrates the importance of investigating the microstructure of the cognitive components involved with processing and responding to an event-based prospective memory cue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult age differences in event-based prospective memory: A meta-analysis on the role of focal versus nonfocal cues.

Studies of age differences in event-based prospective memory indicate wide variation in the magnitude of age effects. One explanation derived from the multiprocess framework proposes that age differences depend on whether the cue to carry out a prospective intention is focal to ongoing task processing. A meta-analysis of 117 effect sizes from 4,709 participants provided evidence for this view, as age effects were greater when the prospective cue to the ongoing task was nonfocal compared with when it was focal. However, the results only support a weaker but not a stronger prediction of the multiprocess framework, as age impairments were reliably above zero for both types of retrieval cues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory predictions are influenced by perceptual information: Evidence for metacognitive illusions.

Although perceptual information is utilized to judge size or depth, little work has investigated whether such information is used to make memory predictions. The present study examined how the font size of to-be-remembered words influences predicted memory performance. Participants studied words for a free-recall test that varied in font size and made judgments of learning (JOLs) for each item. JOLs were influenced by font size, as larger font sizes were given higher JOLs, whereas little relationship was evident between font size and recall. The effect was modified when other, more valid, sources of information (e.g., associative strength) were available when JOLs were made and persisted despite experience with multiple study-test sessions, use of a forgetting scale to assess predictions, and explicit warning of participants that font size has little effect on memory performance. When ease of reading was manipulated, such that large font size words were made less fluent, the effect was eliminated. Thus, highly accessible perceptual cues can strongly influence JOLs, likely via encoding fluency, and this effect can lead to metacognitive illusions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prospective memory and the efficacy of a memory strategy in multiple sclerosis.

Prospective memory (PM), which is the ability to remember to carry out actions that are planned for the future, plays an important role in professional and social life as well as in activities of daily living. This study examined PM performance among adults with multiple sclerosis (MS) and evaluated the efficacy of a mnemonic strategy, implementation intentions. Compared to controls, adults with MS were impaired on PM, both in terms of acting when encountering the correct circumstances (prospective component) and in terms of remembering the correct action to perform (retrospective component). The prospective-component deficit was greater for tasks that depended on more resource-demanding cognitive processes and smaller on tasks that could be performed more automatically. Use of implementation intentions improved MS-group performance on the prospective component, particularly on the more resource-demanding tasks, consistent with the explanation that implementation intentions improved performance by allowing the use of more automatic processes to perform these PM tasks. Implications for providing environmental support to encourage the use of mnemonic strategies are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Relation Between Brain Activity During Memory Tasks and Years of Education in Young and Older Adults.

Higher education is associated with less age-related decline in cognitive function, but the mechanism of this protective effect is unknown. The authors examined the effect of age on the relation between education and brain activity by correlating years of education with activity measured using functional MRI during memory tasks in young and older adults. In young adults, education was negatively correlated with frontal activity, whereas in older adults, education was positively correlated with frontal activity. Medial temporal activity was associated with more education in young adults but less education in older adults. This suggests that the frontal cortex is engaged by older adults, particularly by the highly educated, as an alternative network that may be engaged to aid cognitive function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Role of Familiarity in Episodic Memory and Metamemory for Music.

Participants heard music snippets of varying melodic and instrumental familiarity paired with animal-name titles. They then recalled the target when given either the melody or the title as a cue, or they gave name feeling-of-knowing (FOK) ratings. In general, recall for titles was better than it was for melodies, and recall was enhanced with increasing melodic familiarity of both the cues and the targets. Accuracy of FOK ratings, but not magnitude, also increased with increasing familiarity. Although similar ratings were given after melody and title cues, accuracy was better with title cues. Finally, knowledge of the real titles of the familiar music enhanced recall but had, by and large, no effect on the FOK ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multiple Processes in Prospective Memory Retrieval: Factors Determining Monitoring Versus Spontaneous Retrieval.

Theoretically, prospective memory retrieval can be accomplished either by controlled monitoring of the environment for a target event or by a more reflexive process that spontaneously responds to the presence of a target event. These views were evaluated in Experiments 1-4 by examining whether performing a prospective memory task produced costs on the speed of performing the ongoing task. In Experiment 5, the authors directly tested for the existence of spontaneous retrieval. The results supported the multiprocess theory (M. A. McDaniel & G. O. Einstein, 2000) predictions that (a) spontaneous retrieval can occur and can support good prospective memory and (b) depending on task demands and individual differences, people rely to different degrees on monitoring versus spontaneous retrieval for prospective remembering. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)