Lourenço, Joana S. (2013) Task interference effects in prospective memory. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Prospective memory (PM), or remembering to remember, is biq it s i p pl ’s liv s a d PM
misses might represent around half of daily memory failures according to recent research. In this
thesis, several intention-related factors were investigated in order to clarify and elaborate our
understanding of the effects of working memory (WM) and cognitive aging on prospective
remembering, increase theoretical clarity regarding the dynamics of the monitoring processes in
PM tasks, and investigate the interplay between two qualitatively different PM retrieval
processes (i.e., spontaneous retrieval and monitoring). The overall approach was to examine how
holding a particular intention affected ongoing task performance in a series of specifically
devised laboratory studies of PM. The main findings of this thesis can be summarized as follows:
First, encountering intention-related information boosted nonfocal PM performance for low, but
not high, WM young adults, and did so without any additional cost to ongoing task performance
(Experiment 1). Second, presenting intention-related information as distractor items improved
PM performance for older, but not young adults (Experiments 2 and 3). The benefit was most
likely due to distractor lures enhancing the salience of the target events and triggering
spontaneous retrieval of the intention, or alternatively (or additionally), triggering (functional)
monitoring in close proximity to the target events (Experiment 2). Third, practicing the ongoing
activity prior to encoding the PM task enhanced nonfocal target detection for high WM young
adults, but not for low WM young adults and older adults; practice probably allowed individuals
to encode a more elaborate and detailed representation of the PM task (Experiment 4). Fourth,
explicit information about target-defining features led to trial-by-trial modulations in task
interference as a function of stimulus relevance for the nonfocal PM task. The effect was
observed when relevant and irrelevant stimuli varied at random with no cuing (Experiments 5
and 6) and when presentation was blocked (Experiment 5), and was most likely associated with
the action of top-down attentional control. Fifth, implicit information about the PM task demands
also aff ct d pa ticipa ts’ ff t a d s cc ss i the PM task. Moreover, experience with the PM
targets triggered local changes in attention allocation when actual demands were higher than
expected (Experiment 7). And sixth, target repetition within a set boosted PM performance by
stimulating retrieval through spontaneous retrieval processes, and optimized performance
relative to when retrieval relied mostly on monitoring processes alone (Experiment 8). In
summary, the present work uncovered several factors that have the potential to boost prospective
remembering, as well as influence the extent to which monitoring processes are engaged and/or
the type of processing required to support PM retrieval.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Prospective memory, Interference (Perception)
Official Date:	September 2013
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Psychology
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Maylor, Elizabeth A.
Sponsors:	Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)
Extent:	xv, 246 leaves.
Language:	eng

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