The promotional effect of prosocial motivation on time-based prospective memory

Time-based prospective memory (TBPM) is the ability to remember to do a planned task at the right time. In social interactions, people are often motivated to do things for others, which reflects an important factor that influences prospective memory, namely prosocial motivation. According to the motivational cognitive model, prosocial motivation promotes TBPM by paying more attention or adopting more effective strategies. This study explored the effect of prosocial motivation on TBPM under different time-monitoring conditions within the motivational cognitive model framework. One hundred and thirty-one university students participated in this experiment that adopted a 2 (groups: control, prosocial motivation) × 2 (viewing time conditions: limited, unlimited) between-subjects design. The results revealed that the prosocial motivation group had better TBPM performance than the control group under both limited and unlimited viewing time conditions. At the same time, compared with the control group, the prosocial motivation group consumed more internal attention and utilized more strategies under both viewing time conditions, and their external attention was more effective. In addition, the external attention of the prosocial motivation group was higher only when time-monitoring was unlimited. The results of this study further extend knowledge of the motivational cognitive model and expand its scope of application, which has theoretical significance.

Rumination, but not mood, predicts prospective memory performance: novel insights from a derived measure of trait rumination

Prospective memory (PM) is the accurate execution of an intention in the future. PM may be negatively impacted by negative affect, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Rumination may increase the frequency of task-irrelevant thoughts, which deplete attentional capacity and reduce performance. To date, no studies have examined state and trait rumination on an online measure of PM. The present study examined the effects of state and trait rumination on an event-based, focal PM task embedded within a one-back task over multiple sessions. 95 non-depressed adults (18-53 years) completed measures of state/trait rumination, mood, and PM on at least two occasions. Using multi-level modelling, we found that a derived measure of trait rumination, but not an established trait rumination survey, nor negative mood, predicted poorer PM accuracy. These novel findings demonstrate that trait rumination may partially underlie the association between negative affect & PM in a non-clinical sample, and highlight the potential of online methods to study PM.

Spontaneous memory strategies in a videogame simulating everyday memory tasks

People can use different internal strategies to manage their daily tasks, but systematic research on these strategies and their significance for actual performance is still quite sparse. Here we examined self-reported internal strategy use with a 10-block version of the videogame EPELI (Executive Performance in Everyday LIving) in a group of 202 neurotypical adults of 18-50 years of age. In the game, participants perform lists of everyday tasks from memory while navigating in a virtual apartment. Open-ended strategy reports were collected after each EPELI task block, and for comparison also after an EPELI Instruction Recall task and a Word List Learning task assessing episodic memory. On average, 45% of the participants reported using some strategy in EPELI, the most common types being grouping (e.g., performing the tasks room by room), utilising a familiar action schema, and condensing information (e.g., memorising only keywords). Our pre-registered hypothesis on the beneficial effect of self-initiated strategy use gained support, as strategy users showed better performance on EPELI as compared with no strategy users. One of the strategies, grouping, was identified as a clearly effective strategy type. Block-by-block transitions suggested gradual stabilisation of strategy use over the 10 EPELI blocks. The proneness to use strategies showed a weak but reliable association between EPELI and Word List Learning. Overall, the present results highlight the importance of internal strategy use for understanding individual differences in memory performance, as well as the potential benefit for internal strategy employment when faced with everyday memory tasks.

Naturalistic assessments in virtual reality and in real life help resolve the age-prospective memory paradox

 Cognitive aging researchers have long reported "paradoxical" age differences in prospective memory (PM), with age deficits in laboratory settings and age benefits (or no deficits) in real-world settings. We propose a theoretical account that explains this "age-PM-paradox" as a consequence of both methodological factors and developmental changes in cognitive abilities and personality traits. To test this account, young  and older  adults   performed a series of naturalistic PM tasks in the lab and real world. Age-related PM deficits were observed in both lab-based tasks where demands were implemented using virtual reality and in-person role-playing. In contrast, older adults performed equal to or better than young adults on both real-world tasks, where demands were implemented in participants' daily lives. Consistent with our proposed account, an index of these "paradoxical" effects was partially predicted by age-related differences in working memory, vigilance, agreeableness, and neuroticism, whose predictive utility varied across task settings.

The processing mechanism of mixed prospective memory: Changes in internal and external attention

While time-based prospective memory (TBPM) includes only time cues, mixed prospective memory (MPM) is a special form of prospective memory including both time and event cues. Depending on the classification of the clarity of time cues, MPM can be divided into time-period MPM and time-point MPM. While the time cue of the latter is a definite time point, the time cue of the former is a vague time period. As such, MPM and TBPM may have different processing mechanisms due to the additional event cue. This study aimed to investigate whether there are differences in the processing mechanisms between TBPM and the two types of MPM. A total of 240 college students were recruited to participate in the experiment. They were randomly assigned to a TBPM group, time-point MPM group, time-period MPM group, and baseline group. We adopted the performance of ongoing tasks to reflect internal attention indirectly and the frequency of time checks to measure external attention. The results showed that in terms of prospective memory, time-point MPM had the best performance, followed by time-period MPM, while TBPM had the worst performance. In relation to ongoing tasks, the two types of MPM had a better performance than TBPM in some stages, although worse than the baseline. In addition, the two MPMs evoked a lower time monitoring frequency than TBPM under different monitoring conditions. These results suggested that, compared with TBPM, MPM reduced both internal and external attention consumption and achieved better prospective memory performance. Internal attention consumption displayed dynamic changes for both types of MPM, and the time-point MPM had higher internal attention effectiveness than the time-period MPM. These results support the Dynamic Multiprocess Theory and the Attention to Delayed Intention model.

Assessing time-based prospective memory online: A comparison study between laboratory-based and web-based testing

Prospective memory (PM, i.e., the ability to remember and perform future intentions) is assessed mainly within laboratory settings; however, in the last two decades, several studies have started testing PM online. Most part of those studies focused on event-based PM (EBPM), and only a few assessed time-based PM (TBPM), possibly because time keeping is difficult to control or standardise without experimental control. Thus, it is still unclear whether time monitoring patterns in online studies replicate typical patterns obtained in laboratory tasks. In this study, we therefore aimed to investigate whether the behavioural outcome measures obtained from the traditional TBPM paradigm in the laboratory-accuracy and time monitoring-are comparable with an online version in a sample of 101 younger adults. Results showed no significant difference in TBPM performance in the laboratory versus online setting, as well as no difference in time monitoring. However, we found that participants were somewhat faster and more accurate at the ongoing task during the laboratory assessment, but those differences were not related to holding an intention in mind. The findings suggest that, although participants seemed generally more distracted when tested remotely, online assessment yielded similar results in key temporal characteristics and behavioural performance as for the laboratory assessment. The results are discussed in terms of possible conceptual and methodological implications for online testing.

Older adults' self-reported prospective memory lapses in everyday life: Connections to inflammation and gender

OBJECTIVE

Limited research has focused on the association between inflammatory markers and features of subjective cognitive functioning among older adults. The present work examined links between inflammation and a specific subjective cognitive report: prospective memory (PM), or our memory for future intentions, such as attending an appointment or taking medication.

METHOD

We assessed self-reported PM lapses using a two-week ecological momentary assessment (EMA) diary protocol via smartphone as well as levels of blood-based inflammation among 231 dementia-free older adults (70-90 years, 66% women) enrolled in the Einstein Aging Study.

RESULTS

Overall, PM lapses were largely unrelated to inflammatory markers. However, a significant gender difference was observed in the link between basal levels of interleukin (IL)-8 and PM lapses: higher levels of basal IL-8 were associated with more PM lapses among men (estimate = 0.98, 95%CI: [0.43, 1.53], p < .001) but not women (estimate = -0.03, 95%CI: [-0.45, 0.39], p = .826). No other significant relationships between PM lapses and basal or stimulated (ex vivo) cytokine levels (IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-alpha [TNF-α]) or C-reactive protein (CRP) emerged.

CONCLUSION

Elevated levels of IL-8 in older men may possibly be an early indicator of neurodegeneration that relates to PM performance. Future studies should continue to examine PM and inflammation across genders to identify possible mechanisms through which these constructs may indicate neurodegeneration and dementia risk.

Modulating prospective memory and attentional control with high-definition transcranial current stimulation: Study protocol of a randomized, double-blind, and sham-controlled trial in healthy older adults

The ability to remember future intentions (i.e., prospective memory) is influenced by attentional control. At the neuronal level, frontal and parietal brain regions have been related to attentional control and prospective memory. It is debated, however, whether more or less activity in these regions is beneficial for older adults' performance. We will test that by systematically enhancing or inhibiting activity in these regions with anodal or cathodal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation in older adults. We will include n = 105 healthy older volunteers (60-75 years of age) in a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, and parallel-group design. The participants will receive either cathodal, anodal, or sham high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation of the left or right inferior frontal gyrus, or the right superior parietal gyrus (1mA for 20 min). During and after stimulation, the participants will complete tasks of attentional control and prospective memory. The results of this study will clarify how frontal and parietal brain regions contribute to attentional control and prospective memory in older healthy adults. In addition, we will elucidate the relationship between attentional control and prospective memory in that age group. The study has been registered with ClinicalTrials.gov on the 12th of May 2021 (trial identifier: NCT04882527).

The benefits of mind wandering on a naturalistic prospective memory task

Mind wandering (MW) occurs when our attention spontaneously shifts from the task at hand to inner thoughts. MW is often future-oriented and may help people remember to carry out their planned actions (Prospective Memory, PM). Past-oriented MW might also play a critical role in boosting PM performance. Sixty participants learned 24 PM items and recalled them during an immersive virtual walk in a town. The items were divided into event-based-EB and time-based-TB. During the PM retention phase, participants were randomly assigned to a high or a low cognitive load condition, in order to manipulate MW frequency. Some PM items were encoded before this MW manipulation (pre-PM) and some during the virtual walk (post-PM). A high MW frequency was linked with better global PM performances. Spontaneous past-oriented MW predicted better pre-EB retrospective PM retrieval, while spontaneous future-oriented MW predicted better Pre-EB prospective PM retrieval. Voluntary future-oriented MW predicted better post-EB retrospective retrieval. We highlighted, for the first time, a differential impact of spontaneous MW content depending on the PM component (retrospective or prospective). Past-oriented MW is crucial for (re)consolidating PM intentions, and episodic future thinking MW for the execution of PM intentions. We discuss the twofold functional role of MW, namely, to consolidate an already programmed intention and to plan future actions.

Age differences in routine formation: the role of automatization, motivation, and executive functions

Medication adherence can be vital for one's health, especially in older adults. However, previous research has demonstrated that medication adherence is negatively affected by age-related cognitive decline. In the current study we investigated whether older adults are able to compensate for this decline by relying more on the formation of efficient, automatized routines. To this end, we directly compared daily (placebo) medication adherence in a healthy sample of 68 younger (18-29  years) and 63 older adults (65-86  years) over a period of 4  weeks. We show that despite an age-related decline in cognitive functions (i.e., poorer working memory, prospective memory, task switching, and goal-directed control), older adults adhered better to a daily pill intake routine than younger adults did and, in line with our hypothesis about increased routine formation, reported higher subjective automaticity of pill intake. Across age groups, automatization of pill intake was related to intake regularity and conscientiousness, but not to individual differences in habit tendency as measured in the lab nor to explicit strategic planning. Crucially, the age-related increase in pill intake adherence was mediated by experienced automatization as well as motivation. These findings demonstrate that intact habitual processes and high motivation aid older adults in successfully forming daily routines.

Aging and time-based prospective memory in the laboratory: a meta-analysis on age-related differences and possible explanatory factors

In older adults' everyday life, time-based prospective memory (TBPM) is relevant as health-related intentions are often part of daily activities. Nonetheless, it is still unclear which task-related factors can potentially moderate the magnitude of age-related differences, such as duration of the PM target time (the time-window within which an individual must complete a given TBPM task), the frequency of the TBPM tasks, and the criterion chosen to compute PM accuracy. The present meta-analysis aimed to quantify age-related differences in laboratory TBPM tasks, and to investigate how specific task-related factors potentially moderate the magnitude of age effects. The results showed that age effects consistently emerged among the studies, with older adults showing lower TBPM performance and checking the clock less often than younger adults, especially for shorter intervals (e.g., ≤ 4 min). Furthermore, the results indicated that the duration of the PM target time interacted with the frequency of the PM task, suggesting that learning effects may attenuate the magnitude of age differences in TBPM performance. The results are discussed in terms of potential implications about the possible cognitive processes involved in TBPM and aging, as well as in terms of robustness of the TBPM laboratory paradigm in aging research.

The effect of implementation intentions on event-, time-, and activity-based prospective memory in typically developing children

Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to remember and complete planned tasks in the future, which relies on working memory (WM) for encoding and maintaining the intention. Implementation intention is a useful strategy for improving PM function in adults. Yet the effect of implementation intentions in children, and whether factors such as age, gender, and WM capacity could modulate its effect remains unclear. In this study, we examined the effect of implementation intentions on PM in 154 children at 7–11 years of age. The standard group received standard instructions on PM task, whereas the implementation intention group received additional PM instruction, which comprised the “if . . . then . . .” format and guided visual imagery of the PM scenario. Participants completed the computer-based PM tasks (tapping into focal event-, time-, and activity-based PM) and the WM tests. The results showed that the two groups exhibited similar focal event-, time-, and activity-based PM performance. Although age and gender did not modulate the effect of implementation intentions on PM, WM capacity moderated the implementation intention effect on time-based PM. Specifically, higher WM capacity predicted higher implementation intention benefit. These findings suggest that children with higher WM capacity may have higher chance to benefit from the implementation intention strategy.

Assessment of goal-directed behavior with the 3D videogame EPELI: Psychometric features in a web-based adult sample

EPELI (Executive Performance in Everyday LIving) is a recently developed gaming tool for objective assessment of goal-directed behavior and prospective memory (PM) in everyday contexts. This pre-registered study examined psychometric features of a new EPELI adult online version, modified from the original child version and further developed for self-administered web-based testing at home. A sample of 255 healthy adults completed EPELI where their task was to perform household chores instructed by a virtual character. The participants also filled out PM-related questionnaires and a diary and performed two conventional PM tasks and an intelligence test. We expected that the more "life-like" EPELI task would show stronger associations with conventional PM questionnaires and diary-based everyday PM reports than traditional PM tasks would do. This hypothesis did not receive support. Although EPELI was rated as more similar to everyday tasks, performance in it was not associated with the questionnaires and the diary. However, there were associations between time-monitoring behavior in EPELI and the traditional PM tasks. Taken together, online adult-EPELI was found to be a reliable method with high ecological face validity, but its convergent validity requires further research.

Prosocial motivation can promote the time-based prospective memory of school-age children

In real life, we are often motivated to plan things to be performed at specific times in the future. Some of these intended actions help other individuals, and thus involve time-based prospective memory (TBPM) under prosocial motivational conditions. Children's social development is very rapid, and they have relatively stable prosocial motivation during school age. Few studies have paid attention to this issue. This study focuses on three aspects of this issue: (1) the impact of prosocial motivation on the TBPM of school-age children, (2) whether there are sex differences in this effect, and, for the first time, (3) the processing mechanism by which prosocial motivation affects TBPM in school-age children in the framework of the motivation cognitive model. A total of 112 elementary school students, aged between 8 and 12, participated in the experiment, using a 2 (group: prosocial motivation, control) × 2 (sex: boy, girl) between-subjects design. The results showed that prosocial motivation can significantly reduce children's time difference of TBPM. However, we found no sex differences in the effect of prosocial motivation on TBPM in the above two indicators. With regard to the processing mechanism, we found that the prosocial motivation group paid more attention to external time information throughout the experiment. However, their internal attention and the effectiveness of attention did not improve. These results partially support the motivation cognitive model. Overall, this study found that prosocial motivation relies mainly on external attention to improve the TBPM performance of school-age children.

EPELI: a novel virtual reality task for the assessment of goal-directed behavior in real-life contexts

A recently developed virtual reality task, EPELI (Executive Performance in Everyday LIving), quantifies goal-directed behavior in naturalistic conditions. Participants navigate a virtual apartment, performing household chores given by a virtual character. EPELI aims to tap attention, executive function, and prospective memory. To ensure its applicability to further research and clinical work and to study its relationship to relevant background factors, we examined several key properties of EPELI in 77 typically developing 9–13-year-old children. These included EPELI’s internal consistency, age and gender differences, sensitivity to gaming experience, head-mounted display (HMD) type, and verbal recall ability, as well as its relationships with parent-rated everyday executive problems. Of the eight EPELI measures, the following six showed acceptable internal consistency: task and navigation efficacy, number of correctly performed tasks and overall actions, time monitoring, and controller movement. Some measures were associated with age, gender, or verbal encoding ability. Moreover, EPELI performance was associated with parent-rated everyday executive problems. There were no significant associations of gaming background, task familiarity, or HMD type with the EPELI measures. These results attest to the reliability and ecological validity of this new virtual reality tool for the assessment of attention, executive functions, and prospective memory in children.

Prospective memory in adults with down syndrome

Prospective memory (PM) refers to the ability to remember one's intentions (what I must do), at the appropriate time, in the future (when I must do it). The objective of this work is to study the performance of people with Down syndrome (DS) compared to two control groups, matched by mental age and chronological age. For this purpose, an adapted version of the virtual week, which is an ecological test to simulate the functioning of PM in everyday life, was used. The results suggest that people with DS have difficulties in PM that mainly concern the binding (association) between prospective (when to do) and retrospective (what to do) components. Moreover, people with DS perform better in PM when the task is repeated and time-based. These results are discussed in light of studies conducted with other populations.

Where Is My Mind…? The Link between Mind Wandering and Prospective Memory

Mind wandering (MW) is a common feature of the human experience occurring when our attention shifts from the task at hand to inner thoughts. MW seems to be often future-oriented and could be used to help people to carry out their planned actions (Prospective Memory PM). Here, we tested the link between MW and the ability to perform PM intentions. We assessed MW and PM over 15 days using experience-sampling probes via mobile phone (226 participants) associated with a naturalistic PM task. We confirmed that MW occupies a significant proportion of our mental activity (40%). This time seems to be mainly used to project ourselves into the future (64%), whether to anticipate and imagine the long term (20%) or to plan daily obligations (44%). Intriguingly, only past-oriented thoughts (9%) predict the PM performance. We discuss the possible functional role played by MW in maintaining intentions in mind.

Validity and normative data of the Chinese Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) across adolescence, adults and elderly people

The Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ) is a widely-used questionnaire for evaluating individuals' memory failures in everyday life. However, whether the scale is valid for different age groups and gender, and how memory complaints change with age and gender remains less clear. This study aimed to validate the self-report PRMQ in a large Chinese sample across adolescence and adulthood and investigate age-related changes and gender differences in self-report prospective memory (PM) and retrospective memory (RM). A total of 2528 healthy individuals aged from 13 to 96 completed the Chinese version of the PRMQ. Results revealed that the PM-RM correlated factor model was the best fit model with satisfactory reliability and had measurement invariance across gender and adjacent age groups. Adolescents and adults reported similar memory complaints, while older people stated more memory difficulties. Female participants reported more PM errors than male participants, but this gender difference only showed in adolescents and adults. Taken together, these findings not only support the Chinese version of the PRMQ as a valid tool for evaluating prospective and retrospective memory difficulties across gender and adjacent age groups, but also reveal age-related changes and gender difference on self-report memory.

The Geneva Space Cruiser: a fully self-administered online tool to assess prospective memory across the adult lifespan

The current study aimed to examine whether the Geneva Space Cruiser - a new online adaptation of the Cruiser - represents a valid, reliable and useful tool to assess prospective memory (PM) across the adult lifespan via fully self-administered online testing. Therefore, an adult lifespan sample of 252 adults (19-86 years old) performed the Geneva Space Cruiser in the laboratory and online, at home, and also performed a more traditional laboratory PM task. A second sample of 224 young adults (19-35 years old) participated in a test-retest online assessment of the Geneva Space Cruiser. Bayesian analyses showed that the Geneva Space Cruiser yielded similar results when administered in the laboratory versus online, both in terms of data distribution as well as of key outcome measures (i.e., PM performance and monitoring). Results further showed very good test-retest reliability and acceptable construct validity. Finally, the online tool was sensitive for detecting age-differences similar to those typically observed in laboratory studies. Together, our findings suggest that the Geneva Space Cruiser represents a rather valid, moderately to highly reliable, and generally useful tool to assess PM in online testing across wide ranges of the adult lifespan, with certain limitations for the oldest participants and for women.

Adult age differences in remembering gain- and loss-related intentions

Motivational and emotional changes across adulthood have a profound impact on cognition. In this registered report, we conducted an experimental investigation of motivational influence on remembering intentions after a delay (prospective memory; PM) in younger, middle-aged, and older adults, using gain- and loss-framing manipulations. The present study examined for the first time whether motivational framing in a PM task has different effects on younger and older adults' PM performance (N = 180; age range: 18-85 years) in a controlled laboratory setting. Based on lifespan theories of motivation, we assumed that the prevention of losses becomes more relevant with increasing age: We expected that older adults show relatively higher PM performance in a task with loss-related consequences following PM failure than in a task in which successful PM leads to gains. The opposite pattern of performance was expected for younger adults. The findings suggest that the relevance of reward and positive gain-related consequences for successful remembering appears to decrease with age. As hypothesised, a motivational framing × age interaction indicated that age differences in memory performance were smaller with loss-related than gain-related consequences, supporting a loss-prevention view on motivated cognition.