The influence of retention intervals and warning signals on prospective memory.

Abstract

Prospective memory, memory for future events, is used for remembering duties and obligations that all people must complete. Past research has contributed to our understanding of the bases of prospective memory tasks (time versus event) and the kinds of situations requiring prospective memory (appointments, chores, deadlines, and medications). However, research has yet to examine how prospective remembering unfolds over time. For example, very little is known about how such remembering is affected by the time from when the task is encoded to the time that a task must be conducted (the retention interval), the length of the time in which a response can be counted as correct (the response window), and the time from a warning signal, if given, to the time that the prospective task must be completed (the anticipatory lag). This research explored the accuracy and temporal precision to remember to complete a prospective memory task. An accurate prospective remembering involves responding within a response window. The precision of a prospective response refers to how close in time a response is to the ideal time expected of a response. Participants completed prospective memory tasks with three retention intervals ( 45 second, 60 second, and 7 5 second) and attempted to respond within a response window often seconds. Warning signals were either not presented or presented at five and fifteen seconds prior to the expected reaction time. The results indicated that a warning signal affected both the accuracy and precision of prospective remebering such that shorter anticipatory lags created greater accuracy and lower failure rates.