任务难度对前瞻记忆TAP效应影响的研究

前瞻记忆中的TAP效应是指,当进行中任务和前瞻任务加工类型一致时,前瞻记忆成绩要好于两者工类型不一致时.该研究采用双重任务范式,以大学生为被试,探讨了进行中任务难度对前瞻记忆TAP效应的影响,以揭示注意资源在TAP效应产生中的关键作用.结果表明:当进行中任务难度较低时,没有出现TAP效应,即进行中任务和前瞻任务的加工类型是否一致不会对前瞻记忆成绩产生显著影响;当进行中任务难度较高时,TAP效应部分出现.进一步说,当进行中任务加工类型为语义型时,语义型的前瞻任务成绩要显著好于结构型的前瞻任务成绩;而当进行中任务加工类型为结构型时,前瞻任务的加工类型没有对前瞻记忆成绩产生显著影响.     

注意状态、认知方式与前瞻记忆的TAP效应

采用经典实验室研究范式,实验一探讨了前瞻记忆任务为知觉加工条件下,注意状态和前瞻记忆任务与进行中任务一致和不一致时对不同认知方式个体前瞻记忆成绩的影响,实验二探讨了前瞻记忆任务为语义加工条件下,注意状态和前瞻记忆任务与进行中任务一致和不一致时对不同认知方式个体前瞻记忆成绩的影响,结果表明,（1）在前瞻记忆任务加工类型是语义加工和知觉加工两种条件下,场依存与场独立个体均发现了TAP效应的存在,而且场依存个体表现出更明显的TAP效应;（2）当前瞻记忆任务与进行中任务的加工类型不一致时,场独立个体的前瞻记忆成绩明显高于场依存个体,而在两类任务加工类型一致情况下,场独立与场依存个体的前瞻记忆成绩不存在明显差异;（3）在前瞻记忆任务是知觉加工时,分心对前瞻记忆成绩有明显不利的影响;而在前瞻记忆任务是语义加工时,只有当前瞻记忆任务与进行中任务加工类型不一致时,分心对前瞻记忆才有明显不利的影响,而且在分心条件下的TAP效应更明显。     

前瞻记忆年老化研究的自然情境和实验室情境比较

年龄—前瞻记忆矛盾现象在实验室情境和自然情境研究中普遍存在。当任务设置为日常情境时, 前瞻记忆不受年龄影响或随年龄增长而促进, 前瞻记忆成绩可能受人格、生活方式、任务材料、提示等因素的影响; 当任务是实验室情境设置时, 与年轻被试相比, 老年被试前瞻记忆成绩一般都较差, 前瞻记忆成绩可能受回溯记忆负载、线索类型和策略控制加工的需求等因素的影响。年龄-前瞻记忆矛盾现象可能来自于环境与意向的社会性特征、认知资源分配策略等方面的原因。最后, 从被试控制、任务材料的设置、动机因素的探索等方面对今后的研究提出建议和展望。     

前瞻记忆的年老化效应:前瞻成分和回溯成分的调节作用

关注事件性前瞻记忆的年老化,采用基于双重任务的实验室研究范式,实验一控制线索与意向的关联性和线索的显著性操纵概念驱动加工和数据驱动加工过程,比较前瞻记忆的前瞻成分和回溯成分的年老化影响;实验二检验前瞻成分在前瞻记忆年老化中的作用。结果显示,线索与意向的关联性和线索与背景的区别性作为概念驱动加工和数据驱动加工的重要表现形式可以显著地促进老年人的前瞻记忆水平,前瞻记忆年老化主要存在于前瞻记忆的前瞻成分;前瞻成分较高的注意资源需求导致前瞻记忆的年龄差异主要受任务的认知需求水平所影响,当前瞻记忆是相对自动加工时,年龄差异小;当任务需要较多的控制加工时,年龄差异相对较大。本研究进一步揭示了导致前瞻记忆年龄差异的原因。     

视空间定位的短时记忆的超广度研究

采用视空间定位的短时记忆任务研究记忆负载的增加对空间位置信息和时间顺序信息的记忆成绩的影响。结果表明,在记忆负载较低时,位置记忆和顺序记忆的成绩相同;当记忆负载逐渐增大时,位置记忆的成绩逐渐上升,而顺序记忆的成绩先上升后下降,两者出现显著性的差异。在这个过程中,短时记忆的加工发生相应的变化,体现了短时记忆加工资源的有限性。     

加工焦点性和任务负荷对不同认知方式大学生前瞻记忆的影响

采用双任务范式,探讨了加工焦点性和进行中任务负荷对不同认知方式大学生前瞻记忆的影响。包括两个实验:实验一探讨进行中任务与前瞻记忆任务加工的焦点性和加工类型的一致性对不同认知方式大学生前瞻记忆的影响;实验二探讨进行中任务负荷对不同认知方式大学生在在焦点加工和非焦点加工条件下前瞻记忆的影响。结果显示:焦点加工条件下的前瞻记忆成绩高于非焦点加工,且不受进行中任务负荷的影响;不管进行中任务与前瞻记忆任务的加工类型是否一致,在进行中任务负荷较高且非焦点加工条件下,场独立大学生的前瞻记忆成绩高于场依存大学生。本研究结果支持多重加工理论。     

情景记忆成功年老化的神经机制

随着年龄的增长, 大部分老年人的情景记忆会出现衰退, 但也会有一部分老年人的情景记忆表现出成功的年老化, 即记忆成绩较好或随增龄的衰退程度较小。脑保持理论、神经去分化理论、认知储备理论以及神经补偿理论分别从不同角度解释了情景记忆成功年老化的神经机制。基于选择性优化与补偿模型对现有理论进行整合, 发现情景记忆成功年老化可能与个体的认知储备水平直接相关：高认知储备的老年人能够对情景记忆相关的脑区和脑网络进行优化且具备更强的神经补偿能力, 因而其脑功能(比如, 神经表征和神经加工通路的特异性)可能会保持地更好。未来研究需要更多地采用纵向设计来考察各理论之间的关系及其影响因素, 从而更好地解释记忆成功年老化的神经机制并为提升老年人的脑与认知健康提供支持。     

进行中任务变化对轻度认知功能障碍者基于事件前瞻记忆的影响

本实验采用2被试组别(MCI组、正常老年组) × 3进行中任务变化(无变化、顺序变化、随机变化)被试间设计探究进行中任务变化对轻度认知功能障碍者基于事件前瞻记忆的影响。结果表明：(1)轻度认知功能障碍者的前瞻记忆成绩显著低于正常老年人的前瞻记忆成绩; (2)进行中任务变化对两组被试前瞻记忆和进行中任务的反应时影响存在显著差异。进行中任务变化越大, 轻度认知功能障碍者完成前瞻记忆和进行中任务的反应速度越慢; 而正常老年被试则不受影响。研究支持前瞻记忆策略加工的理论观点, 认为执行功能损伤可能是导致轻度认知功能障碍者前瞻记忆失败的主要原因。     

不同任务难度条件下认知老化对冲突适应能力的影响

采用任务冲突范式考察在不同任务难度条件下认知老化对个体冲突适应能力的影响。实验1采用经典Flanker任务考察在需要较少认知资源的低难度任务上,老年人与年轻人的冲突适应能力是否有差异;实验2则进一步采用Flanker与Simon任务的交叉整合任务,探讨在需要更多认知资源的高难度任务上,认知老化对冲突适应能力的影响。结果表明在低难度任务条件下,认知老化并未对冲突适应能力产生影响;而当冲突调控所需认知资源超出老化大脑最大代偿潜能时,老年人的冲突适应能力受损严重,认知老化会显著影响冲突适应能力。本研究最终支持了脑功能代偿说和资源限制理论。     

上下文熟悉效应对元记忆监测和记忆的影响

在认知任务中,伴随编码和检索的外围信息被称为上下文,其本身并不是编码或检索的目标。如果学习时的上下文在其后进行提取时重复出现,不管是否对应之前的学习项目,都会增加个体再认正确的概率。这种由于上下文增强项目熟悉感而促进记忆效果的现象就称为上下文熟悉效应。本研究通过两个实验探究上下文熟悉效应对元记忆监测及记忆的影响机制。其中,元记忆监测是以学习判断和信心判断为指标。记忆成绩则是以再认正确率为指标。研究结果显示:第一,上下文熟悉效应影响元记忆监测:学习判断等级上,恢复条件显著高于新条件,且不受任务难度影响; 信心判断等级上,简单任务时恢复条件与新条件无显著差异,困难任务时恢复条件显著高于新条件。第二,上下文熟悉效应影响记忆成绩:再认成绩上,简单任务时新条件显著高于恢复条件; 困难任务时恢复条件显著高于新条件。研究得出结论:上下文熟悉效应对元记忆监测和记忆都有显著影响,任务难度起调节作用。     

The Importance of On-going Concurrent Activities as a Function of Age in Time- and Event-based Prospective Memory

Time-based prospective memory is assumed to involve more self-initiated activities than event-based prospective memory. As age negatively affects self-initiated activities, older participants will show more prospectivememory deterioration than younger participants in time-based tasks. Einstein, McDaniel, Richardson, Guynn, and Cunfer (1995) indeed observed such a decrement in time-based prospective memory while d'Ydewalle, Utsi, and Brunfaut (1996) obtained a better time-based than event-based prospective memory among elderly. The on-going concurrent activity in Einstein et al. (1995) involved answering general questions, whereas d'Ydewalle et al. (1996) used a face-identification task. In an attempt to explain the discrepant results, the present experiment compares time- and event-based memory with young and older participants using the two types of on-going task. However, the better performance of the older participants in the timebased prospective memory task is obtained in the two on-going tasks. A difference in timing constraints in the procedure may explain why the older participants in Einstein et al. (1995) did perform more poorly in the timebased task, whereas our ageing participants did not show such a deterioration, suggesting that the slowing down of mental activities may provide a better explanation than the increasing lack of self-initiated activities by the elderly. All age effects in prospective-memory performance disappear when performance on the target items (i.e. items where a prospective-memory response is required) in the on-going task is taken into account. We emphasise the need to study trade-offs in prospective-memory research as a prospective-memory task is always embedded in another (on-going) activity.     

Prospective memory and ageing paradox with event-based tasks: A study of young,young-old,and old-old participants

Research on ageing and prospective memory—remembering to do something in the future—has resulted in paradoxical findings, whereby older adults are often impaired in the laboratory but perform significantly better than younger adults in naturalistic settings. Nevertheless, there are very few studies that have examined prospective memory both in and outside the laboratory using the same sample of young and old participants. Moreover, most naturalistic studies have used time-based tasks, and it is unclear whether the prospective memory and ageing paradox extends to event-based tasks. In this study, 72 young (18–30 years), 79 young-old (61–70 years), and 72 old-old (71–80 years) participants completed several event-based tasks in and outside the laboratory. Results showed that the ageing paradox does exist for event-based tasks but manifests itself differently from that in time-based tasks. Thus, younger adults outperformed old-old participants in two laboratory event-based tasks, but there were no age effects for a naturalistic task completed at home (remembering to write the date and time in the upper left corner of a questionnaire). The young and old-old also did not differ in remembering to retrieve a wristwatch from a pocket at the end of the laboratory session. This indicates that the paradox may be due to differences in ongoing task demands in the lab and everyday life, rather than the location per se. The findings call for a concentrated effort towards a theory of cognitive ageing that identifies the variables that do, or do not, account for this paradox.     

Age, Focal Processing, and Monitoring in Event-Based Prospective Memory

While there is some consensus that prospective memory (PM) declines with age, the reasons for differences in performance across age groups are not fully understood. This experiment examines two factors that are likely to affect the magnitude of observed age group differences: type of PM task and whether participants monitor the task environment for the opportunity to complete the PM task. Younger and older adults were engaged in an ongoing test of short-term memory and were asked to perform one of two different event-based PM tasks. Younger adults performed better than older adults on both focal and nonfocal PM tasks. In addition, younger adults were able to perform both types of tasks equally well, but older adults were more successful on the focal task than on the nonfocal task. Age group differences in self-reported PM monitoring were also evident and were related to performance. These findings and their implications for current theoretical conceptions of PM aging are discussed.     

不同认知方式中小学生的前瞻记忆的研究

以反义词—非反义词判断为进行中任务,探讨了小学、初中和高中的场独立、场依存型各60名学生的前瞻记忆完成情况。结果表明,场独立学生的前瞻记忆成绩明显好于场依存者;小学、初中、高中各年龄组学生的前瞻记忆成绩无明显差异;基于事件的前瞻记忆成绩明显好于基于时间的前瞻记忆。     

Prospective memory and aging: The effects of working memory and prospective memory task load

Abstract

A person's level of engagement in other actions may influence whether a prospective action is correctly performed. This study used a computerized prospective memory task in which participants remembered to perform an action when a specified background pattern appeared while they simultaneously performed a verbal working memory task. Amount of engagement in the working memory task was manipulated by increasing the number of words to be recalled. Prospective memory load was manipulated by varying the number of prospective targets. Older adults performed more poorly than younger adults on the prospective memory task under higher working memory load and also higher prospective load. Participants with lower working memory load performed better on the prospective task, regardless of age. There were no significant age differences in the absolute accuracy of performance postdictions (post experiment performance awareness). Age differences were also found with a second prospective memory task in which participants were told to write the day of the week (DOW) on the top of answer sheets for tasks performed later in the experiment. No significant correlations were observed between the two prospective memory tasks for either age group.     

Importance effects on performance in event-based prospective memory tasks

In the present study we manipulated the importance of performing two event-based prospective memory tasks. In Experiment 1, the event-based task was assumed to rely on relatively automatic processes, whereas in Experiment 2 the event-based task was assumed to rely on a more demanding monitoring process. In contrast to the first experiment, the second experiment showed that importance had a positive effect on prospective memory performance. In addition, the occurrence of an importance effect on prospective memory performance seemed to be mainly due to the features of the prospective memory task itself, and not to the characteristics of the ongoing tasks that only influenced the size of the importance effect. The results suggest that importance instructions may improve prospective memory if the prospective task requires the strategic allocation of attentional monitoring resources.     

Whoops, I did it again: commission errors in prospective memory

Prospective memory research almost exclusively examines remembering to execute an intention, but the ability to forget completed intentions may be similarly important. We had younger and older adults perform a prospective memory task (press Q when you see corn or dancer) and then told them that the intention was completed. Participants later performed a lexical-decision task (Phase 2) in which the prospective memory cues reappeared. Initial prospective memory performance was similar between age groups, but older adults were more likely than younger adults to press Q during Phase 2 (i.e., commission errors). This study provides the first experimental demonstration of event-based prospective memory commission errors after all prospective memory tasks are finished and identifies multiple factors that increase risk for commission errors.     

Is time-based prospective remembering mediated by self-initiated rehearsals? Role of incidental cues, ongoing activity, age, and motivation

The present research examined self-reported rehearsal processes in naturalistic time-based prospective memory tasks (Study 1 and 2) and compared them with the processes in event-based tasks (Study 3). Participants had to remember to phone the experimenter either at a prearranged time (a time-based task) or after receiving a certain text message (an event-based task) and record the details of occasions when they thought about this intention during a 7-day delay interval. The rehearsal and retrieval of time-based tasks was mediated by more automatic than deliberate self-initiated processes. Moreover, the number of reported rehearsals without any apparent triggers was reliably higher in time- than in event-based tasks. Additional findings concern the effects of age, motivation, and ongoing activities on rehearsal and prospective memory performance.     

Prospective memory, emotional valence and ageing

Emotional factors have been found to be an important influence on memory. The current study investigated the influence of emotional salience and age on a laboratory measure of prospective memory (PM); Virtual Week. Thirty young and 30 old adults completed Virtual Week, in which the emotional salience of the tasks at encoding was manipulated to be positive, negative or neutral in content. For event-based, but not time-based tasks, positivity enhancement in both age groups was seen, with a greater number of positive PM tasks being performed relative to neutral tasks. There was no negativity enhancement effect. Older adults showed generally poorer levels of PM, but they also demonstrated greater beneficial effects of positive valence compared to young. These effects of emotion on PM accuracy do not appear to reflect the retrospective component of the task as a different pattern of emotion effects was seen on the recall of PM content. Results indicate that older adults' difficulties in prospective remembering can be reduced where the tasks to be remembered are positive.     

Prior task experience and comparable stimulus exposure nullify focal and nonfocal prospective memory retrieval differences

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.