Eye movements provide insights into the conscious use of context in prospective memory

Prior research examining the impact of context on prospective memory (PM) has produced mixed results. Our study aimed to determine whether providing progressive context information could increase PM accuracy and reduce costs to ongoing tasks. Seventy-two participants made ongoing true/false judgements for simple sentences while maintaining a PM intention to respond differently to four memorised words. The context condition were informed of the trial numbers where PM targets could appear, and eye-tracking recorded trial number fixation frequency. The context condition showed reduced costs during irrelevant contexts, increased costs during relevant contexts, and had better PM accuracy compared to a standard condition that was not provided with context. The context condition also made an increasing number of trial number fixations leading up to relevant contexts, indicating the conscious use of context. Furthermore, this trial number checking was beneficial to PM, with participants who checked more frequently having better PM accuracy.     

Younger and older adults’ prospective memory: the role of delay task difficulty

ABSTRACT

There is mixed evidence on the impact of delay task difficulty on prospective memory (PM) performance and little research has examined this among older adults. The present study examined younger (N = 60) and older (N = 57) adults’ prospective memory (PM) performance after completing an easy or difficult Raven’s matrices task. To assess whether delay difficulty impacted how often participants thought about their PM intention, participants were asked to report on what they thought about during the delay task itself and retrospectively after all tasks were completed. Younger adults outperformed older adults on the PM task; however, delay task difficulty had no impact PM for either age group. Reports of thinking about the intention during the delay task differed by age group depending whether they were online or retrospective, however, overall greater reports of thinking about the intention was positively associated with PM performance.     

Growth curve models in retrospective memory and prospective memory: the relationship between prediction and performance with task experience

Older adults commonly experience declines in episodic memory that affect their daily lives. The aim was to examine whether the acquired metacognitive awareness that comes with task experience, indexed by meta-retrospective memory (meta-RM)/meta-prospective memory (meta-PM), influences how older adults predict performance on later trials. Participants were 178 community-dwelling older adults. RM performance and predictions were measured using a multi-trial word-list learning task. Predictions and performance for PM were measured using a PM paradigm. Change in RM/PM performance and predictions over the trials/blocks were modelled using latent growth curve analyses. For RM, both predictions and performance increased with task experience. However, for PM, neither performance nor predictions changed with task experience. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that metacognitive awareness acquired during the RM and PM tasks influenced how older adults’ modified their predictions of subsequent task performance. Findings are consistent with [Toglia and Kirk’s (2000). Understanding awareness deficits following brain injury. NeuroRehabilitation, 15(1), 57–70] hypothesis that individuals compare ongoing performance to expectations based on metacognitive knowledge, such that a discrepancy between actual and expected performance may influence emergent awareness.     

Adult Age Differences in the Access and Deletion Functions of Inhibition

ABSTRACT

This study examined age differences in working memory using a delayed-matching-to-sample (DMTS) task. Based on the inhibitory decline hypothesis, which posits that older adults are more susceptible to interference, age differences were expected to be greater for older adults when irrelevant information was present during encoding. Two experiments tested both the access and deletion functions of inhibition. In both experiments, performance was equated for older and younger participants on a no-interference version of the DMTS task to control for age differences in encoding information into working memory. Results consistently showed equivalent effects of distraction for older and younger adults regardless of the difficulty of the perceptual discrimination of targets and distractors, the degree of processing of the distractors, or the semantic relationship between targets and distractors. These results support theories that propose age differences in encoding to explain age differences in working memory, and are inconsistent with theories that propose that older adults are more susceptible to interference than younger adults.     

Context cue focality influences strategic prospective memory monitoring

Monitoring the environment for the occurrence of prospective memory (PM) targets is a resource-demanding process that produces cost (e.g., slower responding) to ongoing activities. However, research suggests that individuals are able to monitor strategically by using contextual cues to reduce monitoring in contexts in which PM targets are not expected to occur. In the current study, we investigated the processes supporting context identification (i.e., determining whether or not the context is appropriate for monitoring) by testing the context cue focality hypothesis. This hypothesis predicts that the ability to monitor strategically depends on whether the ongoing task orients attention to the contextual cues that are available to guide monitoring. In Experiment 1, participants performed an ongoing lexical decision task and were told that PM targets (TOR syllable) would only occur in word trials (focal context cue condition) or in items starting with consonants (nonfocal context cue condition). In Experiment 2, participants performed an ongoing first letter judgment (consonant/vowel) task and were told that PM targets would only occur in items starting with consonants (focal context cue condition) or in word trials (nonfocal context cue condition). Consistent with the context cue focality hypothesis, strategic monitoring was only observed during focal context cue conditions in which the type of ongoing task processing automatically oriented attention to the relevant features of the contextual cue. These findings suggest that strategic monitoring is dependent on limited-capacity processing resources and may be relatively limited when the attentional demands of context identification are sufficiently high.     

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.     

Differences in target monitoring in a prospective memory task

The goal of the present study was to examine individual differences in the degree to which controlled attention is allocated towards a prospective memory (PM) task. Using a PM task that should require high levels of controlled attention in a sample of 138 young, middle-aged, and older adults, two subgroups of participants could be identified, i.e., participants who clearly demonstrated evidence for monitoring and those for whom no clear evidence for monitoring was revealed. A control group (n=95) was tested to control for practice effects in the ongoing task. Differences between subgroups were examined in terms of age, PM accuracy, baseline ongoing task performance, and general negative mood. Nonmonitorers and monitorers differed in age (more older adults being nonmonitorers), ongoing task accuracy (a nonsignificant trend was observed here), PM task accuracy (both young and middle-aged/older monitorers were more accurate than nonmonitorers), and the number of reported depressive symptoms (nonmonitorers > monitorers). Moreover, results showed that even in nonmonitorers PM accuracy was above floor level, indicating that noticing and reacting to some of PM cues is possible without strongly investing in resource demanding monitoring processes.     

意向保持间隔对时间性前瞻记忆的影响

通过两个实验来探讨意向保持间隔对时间性前瞻记忆的影响。实验一仅通过嵌入前瞻目标的背景任务来操纵保持间隔,实验二通过在背景任务之前加入不同时长的填充任务来改变意向保持间隔。结果发现,(1)背景任务中的保持间隔越长,前瞻记忆成绩越差;(2)背景任务中的保持间隔和填充任务的时长对前瞻记忆的影响存在交互作用。成绩最好的为15min-2min组,最差的为15min-15min组。结果表明,背景任务和填充任务阶段对于个体保持前瞻意向可能有不同的功能。     

Prospective memory in young and older adults: The effects of task importance and ongoing task load

Remembering to perform an action in the future, called prospective memory, often shows age-related differences in favor of young adults when tested in the laboratory. Recently Smith, Horn, and Bayen (2012; Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 19, 495) embedded a PM task in an ongoing color-matching task and manipulated the difficulty of the ongoing task by varying the number of colors on each trial of the task. Smith et al. found that age-related differences in PM performance (lower PM performance for older adults relative to young adults) persisted even when older adults could perform the ongoing task as well or better than the young adults. The current study investigates a possible explanation for the pattern of results reported by Smith et al. by including a manipulation of task emphasis: for half of the participants the prospective memory task was emphasize, while for the other half the ongoing color-matching task was emphasized. Older adults performed a 4-color version of the ongoing color-matching task, while young adults completed either the 4-color or a more difficult 6-color version of the ongoing task. Older adults failed to perform as well as the young adults on the prospective memory task regardless of task emphasis, even when older adults were performing as well or better than the young adults on the ongoing color-matching task. The current results indicate that the lack of an effect of ongoing task load on prospective memory task performance is not due to a perception that one or the other task is more important than the other.     

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.     

Fear of falling and falls in older adults with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of social importance on prospective remembering in younger and older adults as a possible factor contributing to the age-prospective memory paradox. Using a between-subjects design, 40 younger and 40 older adults worked on a time-based prospective memory task in which social importance was varied. Overall, younger adults outperformed older adults in the prospective memory task. Importantly, in contrast to younger adults, older adults' prospective memory performance was significantly better in the social importance condition than in the standard condition. This interaction was not reflected in participants' time-monitoring behaviour. Findings are discussed in the context of recent prospective memory theories.     

Future thinking improves prospective memory performance and plan enactment in older adults

Efficient intention formation might improve prospective memory by reducing the need for resource-demanding strategic processes during the delayed performance interval. The present study set out to test this assumption and provides the first empirical assessment of whether imagining a future action improves prospective memory performance equivalently at different stages of the adult lifespan. Thus, younger (n?=?40) and older (n?=?40) adults were asked to complete the Dresden Breakfast Task, which required them to prepare breakfast in accordance with a set of rules and time restrictions. All participants began by generating a plan for later enactment; however, after making this plan, half of the participants were required to imagine themselves completing the task in the future (future thinking condition), while the other half received standard instructions (control condition). As expected, overall younger adults outperformed older adults. Moreover, both older and younger adults benefited equally from future thinking instructions, as reflected in a higher proportion of prospective memory responses and more accurate plan execution. Thus, for both younger and older adults, imagining the specific visual–spatial context in which an intention will later be executed may serve as an easy-to-implement strategy that enhances prospective memory function in everyday life.     

The Effect of Training on Preparatory Attention in Older Adults: Evidence for the Role of Uncertainty in Age-Related Preparatory Deficits

Thirty-two older adults and 20 younger adults completed a simple visual detection task in which the preparatory interval (PI; 1, 3, and 5 s) that separates the warning signal from the target varied randomly on each trial. Participants were divided into two groups. In a control condition, participants completed four blocks of trials with the three PIs occurring equally often within a block. In the experimental condition, participants completed an equal probability block (Block 1) followed by two blocks (Blocks 2 and 3) in which the shortest PI (1 s) occurred on 2/3 of the trials, followed again by an equal probability block (Block 4). In Block 1, the results indicated a larger PI effect in older than younger participants, independent of general slowing. Increasing the likelihood of the shortest PI (Blocks 2 and 3 in the experimental condition) improved RT in older and younger adults and led to an equivalent PI effect in both age groups. This was not observed in the control condition, in which the age-related difference persisted during the four blocks of trials. Importantly, the improvement observed in the experimental group was maintained in the fourth block, where the PIs were reverted to an equal probability distribution. This supports the hypothesis that elderly participants prepare for events that have the greatest probability of occurrence and that this is a flexible process that can be modulated with brief training.     

Dismantling the “age–prospective memory paradox”: The classic laboratory paradigm simulated in a naturalistic setting

Previous research has identified “the age–prospective memory paradox”—that adult ageing results in reliably poorer performance on laboratory-based tasks of prospective memory (PM), but improved performance on such tasks carried out in real-life settings. We hypothesized that even in their everyday environment, older adults might be worse at PM tasks that are triggered during an experimenter-generated ongoing activity. The present study used a task that captured the key features of the classic laboratory paradigm, but which was completed in a setting that met key criteria to be considered naturalistic. In their everyday setting, participants' PM was assessed, with the cue to remember occurring either (a) during their day-to-day activities, or (b) during an experimenter-generated ongoing task. The results confirmed previous naturalistic findings, in showing that older adults (n = 28) exhibited better PM than their younger counterparts (n = 65) when prompted during their everyday activities. However, older adults were also then subsequently less likely to show effective PM during experimenter-generated ongoing activity. Reproducing the paradox within a single dataset, these data indicate that older adults can effectively act on intentions during everyday activities, but have difficulty in prospective remembering during experimenter-generated ongoing tasks.     

Greater priming for previously distracting information in young than older adults when suppression is ruled out

The use of previously distracting information on memory tests with indirect instructions is usually age-equivalent, while young adults typically show greater explicit memory for such information. This could reflect qualitatively distinct initial processing (encoding) of distracting information by younger and older adults, but could also be caused by greater suppression of such information by younger adults on tasks with indirect instructions. In Experiment 1, young and older adults read stories containing distracting words, which they ignored, before studying a list of words containing previously distracting items for a free recall task. Half the participants were informed of the presence of previously distracting items in the study list prior to recall (direct instruction), and half were not (indirect instruction). Recall of previously distracting words was age-equivalent in the indirect condition, but young adults recalled more distracting words in the direct condition. In Experiment 2, participants performed the continuous identification with recognition task, which captures a measure of perceptual priming and recognition on each trial, and is immune to suppression. Priming and recognition of previously distracting words was greater in younger than older adults, suggesting that the young engage in more successful suppression of previously distracting information on tasks in which its relevance is not overtly signaled.     

The fate of completed intentions

The goal of this research was to determine whether and how people deactivate prospective memory (PM) intentions after they have been completed. One view proposes that PM intentions can be deactivated after completion, such that they no longer come to mind and interfere with current tasks. Another view is that now irrelevant completed PM intentions exhibit persisting activation, and continue to be retrieved. In Experiment 1, participants were given a PM intention embedded within the ongoing task during Phase 1, after which participants were told either that the PM task had been completed or suspended until later. During Phase 2, participants were instructed to perform only the ongoing task and were periodically prompted to report their thoughts. Critically, the PM targets from Phase 1 reappeared in Phase 2. All of our measures, including thoughts reported about the PM task, supported the existence of persisting activation. In Experiment 2, we varied conditions that were expected to mitigate persisting activation. Despite our best attempts to promote deactivation, we found evidence for the persistence of spontaneous retrieval in all groups after intentions were completed. The theoretical and practical implications of this potential dark side to spontaneous retrieval are discussed.     

Mental imagery in a visuospatial working memory task and modulation of activation

Ability to process information during a mental imagery task relying on visuospatial working memory and the advantages offered by the possibility of focusing the activation on specific items were examined in younger and older adults. The mental imagery task used for the study required participants to mentally move on a two-dimensional (5×5) or three-dimensional (3×3×3) matrix, while having to hold in memory either the whole pathway (WP condition) or just the final position reached (FP condition). The results revealed age-related differences in ability to modulate activation of visuospatial information. In particular, older adults, unlike the younger counterparts, did not benefit when the task allowed just part of the presented material to be considered. In particular, they drew less advantage from the three-dimensional matrix than the younger group. The findings are discussed in terms of the importance of processes reducing visuospatial working memory activation of irrelevant information and of the difficulties encountered by older adults in the modulation of activation.     

Communication With Older Adults The Influence of Age Stereotypes,Context, and Communicator Age

Forty young, 40 middle-aged, and 40 older adults rated their beliefs about the vocal style that they would use in addressing two older targets—one fitting a negative (Despondent) and one a positive (Golden Ager) stereotype. Participants also gave oral messages to the two targets in either a hospital or community context. Supporting a stereotype-sensitive model of the communication and aging process, participants' beliefs and messages revealed a greater tendency to use patronizing talk with the Despondent target than with the Golden Ager. In addition, the extent and type of patronizing talk (overly nurturing or directive) to the targets was affected by the context in which the target was presented and the age of the communicator. In particular, the number of directive/patronizing messages to Golden Ager targets increased significantly in the hospital context. Finally, older participants were less likely to give patronizing messages to all targets than were younger participants.     

Destination memory in social interaction: better memory for older than for younger destinations in normal aging?

Destination memory, a memory component allowing the attribution of information to its appropriate receiver (e.g., to whom did I lend my pen?), is compromised in normal aging. The present paper investigated whether older adults might show better memory for older destinations than for younger destinations. This hypothesis is based on empirical research showing better memory for older faces than for younger faces in older adults. Forty-one older adults and 44 younger adults were asked to tell proverbs to older and younger destinations (i.e., coloured faces). On a later recognition test, participants had to decide whether they had previously told some proverb to an older/younger destination or not. Prior to this task, participants reported their frequency of contact with other-age groups. The results showed lower destination memory in older adults than in younger adults. Interestingly, older adults displayed better memory for older than for younger destinations. The opposite pattern was seen in younger adults. The low memory for younger destinations, as observed in older adults, was significantly correlated with limited exposure to younger individuals. These findings suggest that for older adults, the social experience can play a crucial role in the destination memory, at least as far as exposure to other-age groups is concerned.     

The effect of semantic context on prospective memory performance

The current study provides evidence for spontaneous processing in prospective memory (PM) or memory for intentions. Discrepancy-plus-search is the spontaneous processing of PM cues via disruptions in processing fluency of ongoing task items. We tested whether this mechanism can be demonstrated in an ongoing rating task with a dominant semantic context. Ongoing task items were manipulated such that the PM cues were members of a semantic category (i.e., Body Parts) that was congruent or discrepant with the dominant semantic category in the ongoing task. Results showed that participants correctly responded to more PM cues when there was a category discrepancy between the PM cues and ongoing task items. Moreover, participants' identification of PM cues was accompanied by faster ongoing task reaction times when PM cues were discrepant with ongoing task items than when they were congruent. These results suggest that a discrepancy-plus-search process supports PM retrieval in certain contexts, and that some discrepancy-plus-search mechanisms may result from the violation of processing expectations within a semantic context.