title: Effects of context expectation on prospective memory performance among older and younger adults.
abstract: This experiment examined the impact of context expectation on prospective memory (PM) performance among older and younger adults. Participants responded to PM target words embedded in an ongoing lexical decision task (LDT). Older and younger adults performed similarly on the PM task. Regardless of age, PM was significantly better for participants in the correct context expectation condition and significantly worse in the incorrect context expectation condition relative to participants who held no expectations about the context in which targets would appear. Participants' LDT response latencies were used to assess cost of the PM task to the ongoing task. Latencies were discernibly longer in the LDT block where the PM targets were expected compared to the block where they were not expected. The findings provide new information about how context can be used to support PM aging and suggest that contextual information can be equally beneficial for older and younger adults.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Oklahoma State University , Stillwater , OK , USA.
authors.forename: Terrence K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Kominsky
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , Oklahoma State University , Stillwater , OK , USA.
authors.forename: Celinda
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reese-Melancon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Prospective memory; aging; context; memory for intentions