title: Prospective memory: effects of divided attention on spontaneous retrieval.
abstract: We examined the effects of divided attention on the spontaneous retrieval of a prospective memory intention. Participants performed an ongoing lexical decision task with an embedded prospective memory demand, and also performed a divided-attention task during some segments of lexical decision trials. In all experiments, monitoring was highly discouraged, and we observed no evidence that participants engaged monitoring processes. In Experiment 1, performing a moderately demanding divided-attention task (a digit detection task) did not affect prospective memory performance. In Experiment 2, performing a more challenging divided-attention task (random number generation) impaired prospective memory. Experiment 3 showed that this impairment was eliminated when the prospective memory cue was perceptually salient. Taken together, the results indicate that spontaneous retrieval is not automatic and that challenging divided-attention tasks interfere with spontaneous retrieval and not with the execution of a retrieved intention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Furman University, Greenville, SC, USA, tharrison9@gatech.edu.
authors.forename: Tyler L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Harrison
authors.forename: Hillary G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Mullet
authors.forename: Katie N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Whiffen
authors.forename: Hunter
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ousterhout
authors.forename: Gilles O
authors.initials: GO
authors.lastname: Einstein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
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