The demands of an ongoing activity influence the success of event-based prospective memory.
Four experiments were conducted to evaluate whether event-based prospective memory would be sensitive to the concurrent demands of the ongoing activity in which intention-related cues were embedded. In Experiments 1 and 2, random alternation between two judgments in the ongoing task reduced prospective memory as compared with having a single task throughout. In Experiment 3, participants' making two binary judgments on every trial resulted in worse prospective memory than did their making single four-alternative judgments. In Experiment 4, participants' making two related judgments resulted in better prospective memory than did their making two unrelated judgments. The results are consistent in spirit with a production rule account of the processing resources that are available when intention-related cues are encountered. Therefore, event-based prospective memory can inversely covary with the cognitive demands of the ongoing activity.
Marsh
Richard L
RL
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602-3013, USA. rlmarsh@uga.edu
Hancock
Thomas W
TW
Hicks
Jason L
JL
D003071:Cognition; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008568:Memory; D011897:Random Allocation