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Mello B, Matos P, Albuquerque PB. The role of cue salience in prospective memory commission errors in nonperformed nonfocal tasks. Cogn Process 2024; 25:395-402. [PMID: 38632149 PMCID: PMC11269317 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-024-01190-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to remember to execute an intention in the future without having a permanent reminder. These intentions can be performed when they are not relevant or become no-longer needed, the so-called "commission errors". The present study aims to understand the effect of cue salience on PM commission errors with unperformed intentions and on the ongoing task performance-associated costs. Through a between-subjects design, eighty-one participants were assigned to 3 conditions: the no-PM condition, which served as control, and the salient and nonsalient conditions, which were asked to perform a lexical decision task and an incomplete nonfocal prospective memory task (i.e. no PM cues were presented). Subsequently, participants were instructed to no longer execute the prospective intention. In the second phase, a lexical decision task occurred again, including irrelevant PM cues, which should not be answered as such. In the salient condition, cues were salient (i.e. presented in red or blue background). In contrast, in the nonsalient condition, PM cues appeared on a black background, as any other stimuli. In the no-PM control condition, participants only performed an LDT. A commission error occurred when the (irrelevant) intention was performed in this second phase. Results showed that more participants performed a commission error in the presence of salient cues, even when PM intentions became irrelevant. Additionally, when cues were not salient, participants took longer to answer the LDT, as reasoned by the spontaneous retrieval theory. These findings are discussed according to the dual-mechanism account.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beatriz Mello
- School of Psychology, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal.
| | - Patrícia Matos
- School of Psychology, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
- School of Psychology, Technology and Sports, Lusófona University of Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Pedro B Albuquerque
- School of Psychology, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
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Dupre C, Peper P, Ball BH. The role of offloading intentions on future-oriented thinking. Psychon Bull Rev 2024; 31:1387-1397. [PMID: 38049573 PMCID: PMC11246708 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02423-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 12/06/2023]
Abstract
Offloading (e.g., using Google calendar reminders) has been shown to improve prospective memory (PM). One unstudied aspect of PM offloading is whether having reminders reduces our future-oriented thinking about PM intentions in contexts in which the intention cannot be fulfilled. In the current study, participants were given two blocks of an ongoing lexical decision task. Prior to beginning the task, participants formed an intention to make a special response to PM targets only in block 2. Participants in the reminder condition had the PM intention displayed at the top of the screen in block 2, whereas those in the no-reminder condition did not. To assess activation of the intention out of context, PM lures (Experiment 1) or thought probes (Experiments 2 and 3) were presented in block 1. Results showed that reminders improved PM performance in block 2 but did not reduce lure interference or PM-related thoughts in block 1. These findings suggest that offloaded memory representations remain as activated and accessible as non-offloaded representations outside the context in which intentions can be fulfilled.
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Affiliation(s)
- Connor Dupre
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA
| | - Phil Peper
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA
| | - B Hunter Ball
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, 76019, USA.
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Xin C, Chen Y, Zhang M, Guo Y, Hu J. The effect of emotional target and context on the aftereffects of prospective memory. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03907-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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Dissociating sub-processes of aftereffects of completed intentions and costs to the ongoing task in prospective memory: A mouse-tracking approach. Mem Cognit 2022; 50:1590-1613. [PMID: 35212979 PMCID: PMC9508066 DOI: 10.3758/s13421-022-01289-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
AbstractIn the present study, we used mouse tracking to investigate two processes underlying prospective memory (PM) retrieval: First, we aimed to explore to what extent spontaneous retrieval of already completed PM intentions is supported by reflexive-associative and discrepancy-plus-search processes. Second, we aimed to disentangle whether costs to an ongoing task during the pursuit of a PM intention are associated with presumably resource-demanding monitoring processes or with a presumably resource-sparing strategic delay of ongoing-task responses. Our third aim was to explore the interaction of processes underlying costs to the ongoing task and processes of spontaneous retrieval. Our analyses replicated response-time patterns from previous studies indicating aftereffects of completed intentions and costs to ongoing-task performance, as well as increased aftereffects while pursuing a PM intention. Notably, based on our mouse-tracking analyses, we argue that aftereffects of completed intentions are best explained by a reflexive initiation of an already completed intention. If the completed intention is not performed in its entirety (i.e., no commission error), the reflexive initiation of the completed intention is followed by a subsequent movement correction that most likely represents a time-consuming response-verification process. Regarding performance costs in the ongoing task, our analyses suggest that actively pursuing a PM intention most likely leads to a strategic delay of ongoing activities. Lastly, we found that pursuing a novel PM task after intention completion exacerbated orienting responses to all deviant stimuli, exacerbated the readiness to initiate the completed intention reflexively, and substantially prolonged the response-verification process following this reflexive intention retrieval.
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Li G, Li M, Wang J, Yu Z, Ma H, Li B. The effects of cognitive load and encoding modality on prospective memory. Cogn Process 2022; 23:441-448. [DOI: 10.1007/s10339-022-01085-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2021] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Bugg JM, Streeper E, Yang NY. How to let go of the past: Lessons from research on aging and prospective memory. PSYCHOLOGY OF LEARNING AND MOTIVATION 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.plm.2022.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Matos P, Albuquerque PB. Moving forward: Exploring the role of interference on prospective memory deactivation. Acta Psychol (Amst) 2021; 219:103395. [PMID: 34416502 DOI: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2020] [Revised: 08/02/2021] [Accepted: 08/10/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent prospective memory (PM) studies have shown that an intention may be erroneously executed despite no-longer-needed (i.e., commission errors), especially under demanding ongoing activities. In the current study, we examined whether PM deactivation benefits from a retroactive interference mechanism. For this, we set up a procedure in which participants are first asked to perform a PM task which is critically declared finished afterwards. Next, they encoded a new and dissimilar PM intention to accomplish later (Experiment 1) or performed filler tasks with increased working memory difficulty levels (Experiment 2). Lastly, all participants encountered several (but irrelevant) PM cues. Together, our findings provide evidence that the efficiency of the deactivation process can be modulated by encoding novel and dissimilar PM tasks and by the type of processing after intention completion. These findings are discussed in terms of strategic or spontaneous retrieval processes and linked to a retroactive interference mechanism which helps to overwrite or deteriorate the old-PM task representation.
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Abstract
Successful prospective remembering involves formation of a stimulus (e.g., bottle of medication and/or place where the bottle is kept)-response (e.g., taking a medication) link. We investigated the role of this link in the deactivation of no-longer-relevant prospective memory intentions, as evidenced by commission error risk. Experiment 1a contrasted two hypotheses of intention deactivation (degree of fulfillment and response frequency) by holding constant the degree of intention fulfillment (e.g., participants responded to one of two target words) while manipulating the number of times the intention was performed. Findings supported the response frequency hypothesis. Experiment 1b employed novel lure trials to examine what "stimulus" participants link the prospective memory response to-target words and/or the salient contextual cue-and compared commission errors to Experiment 1a. Findings suggested the salient context alone does not always function as the stimulus. Collectively these findings, in conjunction with those of Experiment 2 (a within-experiment replication) and a combined analysis, suggest that (a) intention deactivation is facilitated by prior responding (formation/strengthening of stimulus-response links), but additional research is needed to establish the robustness of this effect, and (b) when responding frequently to targets, participants are more likely to bind the response to the context alone than to the target or target/context combination, possibly because they learn to rely on context to predict target occurrence. The latter finding was robust and indicates that deactivation of the appropriate stimulus (target and/or context)-response link may be a critical component of reducing commission errors.
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Matos P, Albuquerque PB. From retrospective to prospective memory research: a framework for investigating the deactivation of intentions. Cogn Process 2021; 22:411-434. [PMID: 33694121 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-021-01016-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2020] [Accepted: 01/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The definition of episodic memory has evolved into a multifaceted concept that gathered great attention in several research areas in psychology and neuroscience. Prospective memory (PM), or the ability to remember to perform delayed intentions at a later moment in the future, represents one side of this capacity for which that has been a growing interest. In this review, we examined a counterintuitive finding: PM intentions may persist and affect our behaviour despite successful goal attainment and task completion, which in daily life may be as serious as taking medication twice. This review aims to elucidate the existing knowledge and identify some unresolved questions concerning this specific memory failure. Therefore, this review provides an overview of the uprising research dedicated to both PM omission and commission errors, including an analysis of its definitions, of the current theoretical approaches of PM retrieval, and the main procedures used in this field to offer an integrative perspective on this topic. Finally, the last section is devoted to discussing future directions to test the predictions of our suggested theoretical explanations for PM deactivation. This might be an avenue for research that is likely to extend our understanding of episodic memory's usefulness in everyday life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrícia Matos
- School of Psychology, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal.
| | - Pedro B Albuquerque
- School of Psychology, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
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Möschl M, Fischer R, Bugg JM, Scullin MK, Goschke T, Walser M. Aftereffects and deactivation of completed prospective memory intentions: A systematic review. Psychol Bull 2020; 146:245-278. [PMID: 31886687 PMCID: PMC7007322 DOI: 10.1037/bul0000221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Prospective memory, the ability to perform an intended action in the future, is an essential aspect of goal-directed behavior. Intentions influence our behavior and shape the way we process and interact with our environment. One important question for research on prospective memory and goal-directed behavior is whether this influence stops after the intention has been completed successfully. Are intention representations deactivated from memory after their completion, and if so, how? Here, we systematically review 20 years of research on intention deactivation and so-called aftereffects of completed intentions across different research fields to offer an integrative perspective on this topic. We first introduce the currently dominant accounts of aftereffects (inhibition vs. retrieval) and illustrate the paradigms, findings, and interpretations that these accounts developed from. We then review the evidence for each account based on the extant research in these paradigms. While early studies proposed a rapid deactivation or even inhibition of completed intentions, more recent studies mostly suggested that intentions continue to be retrieved even after completion and interfere with subsequent performance. Although these accounts of aftereffects seem mutually exclusive, we will show that they might be two sides of the same coin. That is, intention deactivation and the occurrence of aftereffects are modulated by a multitude of factors that either foster a rapid deactivation or lead to continued retrieval of completed intentions. Lastly, we outline future directions and novel experimental procedures for research on mechanisms and modulators of intention deactivation and discuss practical implications of our findings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcus Möschl
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
| | - Rico Fischer
- Department of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Julie M. Bugg
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, United States of America
| | - Michael K. Scullin
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University, United States of America
| | - Thomas Goschke
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
| | - Moritz Walser
- Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
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Matos P, Santos FH, Albuquerque PB. When we must forget: the effect of cognitive load on prospective memory commission errors. Memory 2020; 28:374-385. [PMID: 32043427 DOI: 10.1080/09658211.2020.1726399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Recent studies consistently show that prospective memory (PM) intentions are not always deactivated when no-longer needed and might be erroneously performed upon encountering the once relevant cue - termed PM commission errors. However, empirical evidence on the potential mechanisms that might lead to this kind of memory failure remains mostly unexplored. This study aimed to investigate the influence of the ongoing task demands on PM deactivation of non-performed intentions. Younger adults, except for those in the no-PM condition, were asked to perform a PM task and were then told that the intention was finished. Later, they perform a lexical decision task with some trials containing (irrelevant) PM cues while simultaneously carrying out a counting recall task with two levels of difficulty. The results showed a higher risk of PM commission errors under moderate cognitive load (74%) as compared to the no-load condition (40%). Results also show that commission error risk did not increase in the high-load (54%) compared with the moderate-load condition. Furthermore, comparisons of the ongoign task performance between the no-PM condition and the other conditions with a PM task requirement support that commission errors might arise from a spontaneous PM retrieval. The implications of these findings are discussed within the dual-mechanisms account.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrícia Matos
- School of Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Flávia H Santos
- School of Psychology, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
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Structural correlates of commission errors in prospective memory. Cortex 2019; 124:44-53. [PMID: 31835162 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.10.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2019] [Revised: 10/26/2019] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Prospective memory refers to remembering to perform an intended future action, such as remembering to take medication with breakfast. Historically, the field has focused on failures to initially remember a prospective memory task (omission errors), but interestingly, individuals will occasionally repeat a prospective memory action after it has been completed (e.g., double dosing). These failures in prospective memory deactivation/forgetting are termed commission errors. The current registered study investigated structural neuroimaging correlates of a laboratory measure of commission errors in 47 healthy older adults. Extant theories differed in their predicted outcomes: commission error risk was predicted to be highest in individuals with smaller medial temporal lobe volume (output monitoring theory), larger lateral prefrontal cortex volume (residual activation theory), or a combination of larger medial temporal lobe volume and smaller lateral prefrontal cortex volume (dual mechanisms theory). In registered analyses, we found that a higher number of commission errors was associated with larger medial temporal lobe/hippocampal grey matter volume (supporting dual mechanisms theory), but not with grey or white matter volume in the lateral parietal lobe, frontal pole, or a composite of ventrolateral/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (not supporting dual mechanisms theory). In post hoc analyses, smaller volume in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex was associated with a higher number of commission errors, possibly indicating that the dual mechanisms theory of PFC control was conceptually correct, but that a different PFC subregion than anticipated exerts control over commission errors. Collectively, the registered and post hoc analysis findings showed a functional dissociation across MTL/PFC regions that was more consistent with the dual mechanisms theory than the alternative theories.
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Abstract
It is often necessary to retrieve intentions once a certain cue occurs in the environment. However, such prospective memory (PM) tasks can also be erroneously recalled even though they are no longer relevant and may result in commission errors. According to the dual mechanism account, commission errors occur because the intention is spontaneously retrieved, and there is a subsequent failure to suppress the associated action, resulting in erroneous instant execution. In three experiments, we tested whether failed response suppression is a prerequisite for commission errors. We set up a response lag condition in which participants had to delay their response to ongoing task trials for 1 s (Experiment 1) or 2 s (Experiments 2 and 3) and a pause condition in which the delay occurred between ongoing task trials. In both conditions, participants learned about a PM task and were then told that the PM task was cancelled. In addition, a control group with response lag executed the PM task and was subsequently told the task was finished. Later, all participants encountered several irrelevant PM cues. If failed response suppression is a prerequisite for commission errors, commission error rates should be non-existent in the response lag conditions, because participants had designated time to suppress the PM action. However, commission errors occurred at an equal rate in all lag and pause conditions. Due to this contradiction to the dual mechanism account, we suggest that the process for commission error occurrence should be reconsidered. Because commission errors appear not to be caused by failed response suppression, we discuss the idea that erroneous intentions might be formed when encountering the former PM cue and persist over delays between formation and execution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philipp Schaper
- Institute for Human-Computer-Media, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Tobias Grundgeiger
- Institute for Human-Computer-Media, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
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Scullin MK, McDaniel MA, Dasse MN, Lee JH, Kurinec CA, Tami C, Krueger ML. Thought probes during prospective memory encoding: Evidence for perfunctory processes. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0198646. [PMID: 29874277 PMCID: PMC5991366 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2018] [Accepted: 05/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
For nearly 50 years, psychologists have studied prospective memory, or the ability to execute delayed intentions. Yet, there remains a gap in understanding as to whether initial encoding of the intention must be elaborative and strategic, or whether some components of successful encoding can occur in a perfunctory, transient manner. In eight studies (N = 680), we instructed participants to remember to press the Q key if they saw words representing fruits (cue) during an ongoing lexical decision task. They then typed what they were thinking and responded whether they encoded fruits as a general category, as specific exemplars, or hardly thought about it at all. Consistent with the perfunctory view, participants often reported mind wandering (42.9%) and hardly thinking about the prospective memory task (22.5%). Even though participants were given a general category cue, many participants generated specific category exemplars (34.5%). Bayesian analyses of encoding durations indicated that specific exemplars came to mind in a perfunctory manner rather than via strategic, elaborative mechanisms. Few participants correctly guessed the research hypotheses and changing from fruit category cues to initial-letter cues eliminated reports of specific exemplar generation, thereby arguing against demand characteristics in the thought probe procedure. In a final experiment, encoding duration was unrelated to prospective memory performance; however, specific-exemplar encoders outperformed general-category encoders with no ongoing task monitoring costs. Our findings reveal substantial variability in intention encoding, and demonstrate that some components of prospective memory encoding can be done "in passing."
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael K. Scullin
- Baylor University, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Waco, TX, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Mark A. McDaniel
- Washington University in St. Louis, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, St. Louis, MO, United States of America
| | - Michelle N. Dasse
- Baylor University, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Waco, TX, United States of America
| | - Ji hae Lee
- Washington University in St. Louis, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, St. Louis, MO, United States of America
| | - Courtney A. Kurinec
- Baylor University, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Waco, TX, United States of America
| | - Claudina Tami
- Baylor University, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Waco, TX, United States of America
| | - Madison L. Krueger
- Baylor University, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Waco, TX, United States of America
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Walser M, Goschke T, Möschl M, Fischer R. Intention deactivation: effects of prospective memory task similarity on aftereffects of completed intentions. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2016; 81:961-981. [DOI: 10.1007/s00426-016-0795-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2016] [Accepted: 08/10/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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