The effects of task instructor status on prospective memory performance in preschoolers

The present study applied a 2 × 2 experimental design to assess prospective memory (PM) development across preschool age and to examine the effect of task instructor status (researcher vs. significant other) on PM performance in 80 preschool children. Participants were required to name pictures (ongoing task [OT]), and to remember to refrain from naming but instead give a different response to certain target cues (PM task). Although the OT was of comparable difficulty for both age groups (as indicated by no performance differences), results still indicated significantly higher PM performance in 5-year-olds than in 3-year-olds, confirming the age-related increase of PM capacities between 3 and 5 years. Furthermore, results showed a performance-enhancing effect of significant others as task instructors on both age-groups. Post-hoc analysis revealed that 3-year-olds instructed by a significant other still performed marginally worse than 5-year-olds instructed by a researcher, underlining the finding that substantial changes of PM capacities take place during early childhood.     

The development of prospective memory in young schoolchildren: The impact of ongoing task absorption,cue salience,and cue centrality

This study presents evidence that 9- and 10-year-old children outperform 6- and 7-year-old children on a measure of event-based prospective memory and that retrieval-based factors systematically influence performance and age differences. All experiments revealed significant age effects in prospective memory even after controlling for ongoing task performance. In addition, the provision of a less absorbing ongoing task (Experiment 1), higher cue salience (Experiment 2), and cues appearing in the center of attention (Experiment 3) were each associated with better performance. Of particular developmental importance was an age by cue centrality (in or outside of the center of attention) interaction that emerged in Experiment 3. Thus, age effects were restricted to prospective memory cues appearing outside of the center of attention, suggesting that the development of prospective memory across early school years may be modulated by whether a cue requires overt monitoring beyond the immediate attentional context. Because whether a cue is in or outside of the center of attention might determine the amount of executive control needed in a prospective memory task, findings suggest that developing executive control resources may drive prospective memory development across primary school age.     

The Effect of Retention Interval Task Difficulty on Young Children's Prospective Memory: Testing the Intention Monitoring Hypothesis

The current study examined the impact of retention interval task difficulty on 4- and 5-year-olds’ prospective memory (PM) to test the hypothesis that children periodically monitor their intentions during the retention interval and that disrupting this monitoring may result in poorer PM performance. In addition, relations among PM, working memory, theory of mind (ToM), and 2 types of planning were investigated. Children (N = 64) were randomly assigned to an easy or difficult filler task during the retention interval prior to the PM task. Five-year-olds outperformed 4-year-olds on the PM task, and children receiving the easy filler task outperformed those receiving the difficult filler task. Further, working memory, planning, and ToM were positively associated with PM for children receiving the difficult filler task but not for children receiving the easy filler task. Findings are interpreted with respect to the predictions of the intention monitoring hypothesis as well as the multiprocess framework of PM.     

绝对重要性和认知负荷影响基于事件的前瞻记忆

操作前瞻记忆任务的重要性的方式有两种,研究发现相对重要性会造成进行中任务的损耗,而绝对重要性的研究较少且结果不尽一致,这种差异可能与进行中任务占用认知资源的情况有关。我们使用绝对重要性的指导语来操纵前瞻记忆任务的重要性高或者低,并且以Stroop任务作为进行中任务,来考察绝对重要性和认知资源占用的交互影响。结果发现,在进行中任务一致条件下,绝对重要性的增高促进了进行中任务的完成;而不一致条件下,则会阻碍进行中任务的完成。这说明,进行中任务的认知资源变化与前瞻记忆任务重要性对进行中任务的影响有着交互调节作用。     

The influence of ongoing task absorption on preschoolers’ prospective memory with peripheral cues

ABSTRACT

Prospective memory (PM) represents the ability to perform a planned action after a certain delay. Substantial increases of PM have been shown across the ages of preschool children. However, previous studies have mostly focused on PM tasks, in which the PM cue was presented centrally (i.e. inside the centre of attention). The current study examined developmental differences between 3-, 4-, and 5-year old preschoolers using PM tasks, in which the PM cue was presented peripherally and investigated the influence of ongoing task absorption on children’s performance on such tasks. Results showed that PM performance increased over preschool age and that it was affected by ongoing task absorption, with significantly better PM performance on a low- versus a high-absorbing ongoing task. Importantly, age differences were only present in the low- but not in the high-absorbing condition, showing that preschoolers’ PM improves when less cognitive resources are absorbed by the ongoing task.     

A naturalistic study of prospective memory in preschoolers: The role of task interruption and motivation

We conducted two naturalistic experiments to investigate preschoolers’ development of event-based prospective memory (PM) and to examine the effects of motivation and interruption of an ongoing task. Children aged 2–6 years were asked to perform familiar PM tasks while engaged in their habitual kindergarten play. PM performance improved systematically across the preschool years. The type of PM response (motor or verbal) did not affect performance. High motivation was necessary for 2-year-olds to perform well, and it remained an important factor that increased performance across the entire preschool age range. The need to interrupt an ongoing activity decreased performance in 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds, but not in children aged 2 or 6 years. The pattern of results is consistent with explanations for interruption effects that highlight the role of inhibitory control.     

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。     

Prospective memory performance in preschoolers: Inhibitory control matters

The present study focuses on prospective memory in preschoolers. We specifically investigated the effects of age, retrospective memory, and task interruption on prospective memory performance. In the first experiment, testing 60 children aged 3, 4 and 5 years with a prospective memory task that required active ongoing task interruption we obtained an age effect indicating better prospective memory performance for the two older cohorts. Varying retrospective memory load did influence prospective memory response time but did not affect prospective memory accuracy. However, retrospective memory performance showed an age effect and individual differences in retrospective memory ability were related to individual differences in prospective memory performance, even after partialling age. In the second study, we applied a prospective memory task that did not require active ongoing task interruption. Here, testing 62 children aged 3, 4 and 5 years we still found an age effect in retrospective memory but neither an effect of age nor retrospective memory on prospective memory performance. It is concluded that preschoolers even at the age of 3 years can perform prospective memory tasks to a certain extent. Moreover, while retrospective memory still seems to be somewhat related to prospective memory in preschoolers, inhibitory control required for ongoing task interruption seems to be an especially important factor influencing task performance in preschoolers.     

The impact of cognitive control on children’s goal monitoring in a time-based prospective memory task

The present study investigated whether developmental changes in cognitive control may underlie improvements of time-based prospective memory. Five-, 7-, 9-, and 11-year-olds (N = 166) completed a driving simulation task (ongoing task) in which they had to refuel their vehicle at specific points in time (PM task). The availability of cognitive control resources was experimentally manipulated by imposing a secondary task that required divided attention. Children completed the driving simulation task both in a full-attention condition and a divided-attention condition where they had to carry out a secondary task. Results revealed that older children performed better than younger children on the ongoing task and PM task. Children performed worse on the ongoing and PM tasks in the divided-attention condition compared to the full-attention condition. With respect to time monitoring in the final interval prior to the PM target, divided attention interacted with age such that older children’s time monitoring was more negatively affected by the secondary task compared to younger children. Results are discussed in terms of developmental shifts from reactive to proactive monitoring strategies.     

Predictors of time-based prospective memory in children

This study identified age differences in time-based prospective memory performance in school-aged children and explored possible cognitive correlates of age-related performance. A total of 56 7- to 12-year-olds performed a prospective memory task in which prospective memory accuracy, ongoing task performance, and time monitoring were assessed. Additional tests of time estimation, working memory, task switching, and planning were performed. Results showed a robust relationship between age and prospective memory performance even after controlling for ongoing task performance. Developmental differences in time monitoring were also observed, with older children generally adopting a more strategic monitoring strategy than younger children. The majority of age-related variance in prospective memory task performance could be explained by cognitive resources, in particular planning and task switching. In contrast, no further independent contribution of time estimation was observed. Findings are in line with the development of strategic behavior, as well as executive functioning, in school-aged children.     

热执行功能对儿童标准窗口任务测试的影响

主要考察热执行功能对3~4岁儿童标准窗口任务测试的影响。实验采取3×3的被试间设计。设置了3种条件：标准指示、“强化竞争”指示和无对手指示;将随机抽取的270名被试分为3个年龄段,以检测3~4儿童在窗口任务中的认知发展趋势。结果表明：⑴热执行功能也是影响3~4儿童标准窗口任务测试的一个主要因素;⑵3岁后期是3~4岁儿童在标准窗口任务中所体现出来的认知发展差异的分界年龄;⑶3~4岁儿童在窗口任务中还表现出规则推理能力的差异     

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。     

Executive functioning and prospective memory in young children

The current study examined the role of executive functioning (EF) in children's prospective memory (PM) by assessing the effect of delay and number of intentions to-be-remembered on PM, as well as relations between PM and EF. Ninety-six 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds completed a PM task and two executive function tasks. The PM task required children to interrupt an ongoing card game to perform one action (single intention) or two actions (dual intention) with target cards after a short delay (1 min) or a long delay (5 min). There was no main effect of number of intentions or delay on the PM task. However, performance improved with age, and age and delay interacted such that 4-year-olds’ performance remained the same after a long delay whereas 5-year-olds’ performance improved after a long delay. We suggest that the age by delay interaction is a product of age differences in cognitive monitoring. Working memory but not inhibitory control predicted PM with age controlled. We argue that an executive function framework permits an integrative understanding of many processes involved in young children's prospective memory.     

Time-of-day affects prospective memory differently in younger and older adults

The goal of this study was to investigate the impact of circadian arousal on prospective memory performance as a function of age. We tested a younger (18–34 years) and an older group (56–95 years) of participants on- and off-peak with regard to their circadian arousal patterns in a computer-based laboratory experiment. For the prospective memory task, participants had to press a particular key whenever specific target words appeared in an ongoing concreteness-judgment task. The results showed that prospective memory performance was better on- than off-peak in younger but not older participants. Younger participants consistently outperformed older participants in all conditions. We conclude that prospective remembering underlies time-of-day effects which most likely reflect controlled processes.     

Time’s up! Involvement of metamemory knowledge,executive functions,and time monitoring in children’s prospective memory performance

This study examined time-based prospective memory (PM) in children and explored the possible involvement of metamemory knowledge and executive functions in the use of an appropriate time-monitoring strategy depending on the ongoing task’s difficulty. Specifically, a sample of 72 typically developing children aged 4, 6, and 9 years old were given an original PM paradigm composed of both an ongoing procedural activity and a PM task. Half of the participants (expert group) were trained in the ongoing activity before the prospective test. As expected, results show that time monitoring had a positive effect on children’s PM performance. Furthermore, mediation analyses reveal that strategic time monitoring was predicted by metamemory knowledge in the expert group but only by executive functions in the novice group. Overall, these findings provide interesting avenues to explain how metamemory knowledge, strategy use, and executive functions interact to improve PM performance during childhood.     

A Longitudinal Study of Semantic Grouping Strategy Use in 6–11-Year-Old Children: Investigating Developmental Phases,the Role of Working Memory,and Strategy Transfer

This two-cohort longitudinal study on the development of the semantic grouping strategy had three goals. First, the authors examined if 6–7-year-olds are nonstrategic before becoming strategic after prompting at 8–9 years of age, and if 8–9-year-olds are prompted strategic before spontaneous strategy use at 10–11 years of age. Children 6–7 and 8–9 years old performed two sort-recall tasks (one without and one with a grouping prompt) at two time points separated 1.5 years from each other. Second, the authors investigated whether short-term or working memory capacity at time point 1 predicted recall in children who did or did not use the semantic grouping strategy 1.5 years later. Third, the authors investigated whether prompted strategic children and children who used the strategy spontaneously differed in strategy transfer to a new task. Developmental results confirmed previous cross-sectional results, but in a longitudinal two-cohort study 6–7-year-olds were nonstrategic, and became prompted strategic around 8–9 years of age, followed by spontaneous strategy use at age 10–11 years. The authors found that memory capacity was not predictive of later use of the strategy. New findings were that prompted strategic children were as equally able as spontaneously strategic children to transfer the strategy to a new task, albeit with smaller recall benefits.     

Wait a second: Brief delays in responding reduce focality effects in event-based prospective memory

Remembering to perform deferred actions when an event is encountered in the future is referred to as event-based prospective memory (PM). We examined whether the failure of individuals to allocate sufficient attentional resources to nonfocal PM tasks can be linked to the response demands inherent in PM paradigms that require the PM task to race for response selection with the speeded ongoing task. In three experiments, participants performed a lexical decision task while being required to make a separate PM response to a specific word (focal), an exemplar of a category (nonfocal), or a syllable (nonfocal). We manipulated the earliest time participants could make task responses by presenting a tone at varying onsets (0–1,600 ms) following stimulus presentation. Improvements in focal PM and nonfocal PM were observed at response delays as brief as 200 ms and 400 ms, respectively. Nonfocal PM accuracy was comparable to focal PM accuracy at delays of 600 ms and 1,600 ms for categorical targets and syllable targets, respectively. Delaying task responses freed the resource-demanding processing operations used on the ongoing task for use on the nonfocal PM task, increasing the probability that the nonfocal PM features of ongoing task stimuli were adequately assessed prior to the ongoing task response.     

Validating the Electric Maze Task as a Measure of Planning

The Electric Maze Task (EMT) is a novel planning task designed to allow flexible testing of planning abilities across a broad age range and to incorporate manipulations to test underlying planning abilities, such as working-memory and inhibitory control skills. The EMT was tested in a group of 63 typically developing 7- to 12-year-olds. Participants completed 4 mazes designed to alter working-memory demands (by increasing the number of steps required from 6 to 8) and inhibitory control demands (by using a modified Dimensional Change Card Sort task) and 3 standardized measures using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. The EMT was found to correlate with measures of visual memory, working memory, and planning. The 6-step mazes were simpler for participants to solve and mapped on to performance on the visual memory task. The 8-step mazes were more difficult and mapped on to performance on the spatial working-memory and planning tasks. Children who were 10 to 12 years old were also better than 7- to 9-year-olds at solving all mazes, as evidenced by fewer errors and fewer errors later in solving the mazes. Younger children also struggled more than older children after a rule switch. Performance on the maze task differentiated 7- to 12-year-old children with better planning skills, and manipulations of the maze task were successful in altering the working-memory and inhibitory control demands.     

进行中任务加工类型对前瞻记忆TAP效应的影响

该研究采用基于双重任务的实验研究范式,采用双字词作为实验材料,考察了知觉和语义两种进行中任务加工类型对前瞻记忆TAP效应的影响。结果发现：进行中任务加工类型对前瞻记忆绩效的TAP效应有显著影响。当进行中任务为知觉加工时,前瞻记忆任务的绩效存在显著的TAP效应;当进行中任务为语义加工时,前瞻记忆任务绩效的TAP效应没有出现。     

The effects of age and cue-action reminders on event-based prospective memory performance in preschoolers

The present study investigated event-based prospective memory in five age groups of preschoolers (i.e., 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds). Applying a laboratory-controlled prospective memory procedure, the data showed that event-based prospective memory performance improves across the preschool years, at least between 3 and 6 years of age. However, our findings do not confirm early speculations that 2-year-olds may have attained reliable skills to carry out future intentions on their own. By contrast, there were first signs of prospective memory abilities among the 3-year-olds. The present study also revealed that children as young as 3 years can use external memory aids in the form of cue-action reminders to improve their event-based prospective remembering. Finally, the findings suggest that parents or caregivers can adequately estimate their preschool children's prospective memory abilities, as revealed by applying a modified version of the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ).