Effects of aging, planning, and interruption on complex prospective memory.

This study examined the effects of aging, planning, and interruption on complex prospective memory (PM) using a 2 x 2 x 2 between-subjects design. Participants were 80 younger adults (65 females) aged 18-33 years and 80 older adults (70 females) aged 60-75 years. They were randomly allocated to four conditions (viz., no interruption and no planning, interruption but no planning, planning but no interruption, and both planning and interruption) and asked to undertake three PM tasks (time-, event-, and activity-based) while performing an ongoing task (viz., recipe checking and identification) in a simulated home environment. Younger adults were found to perform significantly better than older adults on time- and event-based PM. The opportunity to plan for five minutes was found to improve performances on all three types of PM. Unexpected, external interruptions, on the other hand, were found to reduce performance for time-based PM. Interestingly, planning was found to significantly improve the performance of older adults on time-based PM and to a level similar to that of younger adults. Results of the study have clarified the independent and interactive effects of the three variables on PM and have implications for understanding and enhancing this type of memory.

Does negative mood drive the urge to eat? The contribution of negative mood, exposure to food cues and eating style.

The current study investigated whether negative mood alone, or in conjunction with exposure to food cues, influences the urge to eat. Female participants (N=160) were allocated to either a negative or neutral mood induction procedure followed by exposure to either a preferred food cue or a non-food cue. Participants reported their urge to eat at baseline, following the mood induction procedure, and following the cue exposure, as well as completing measures of restrained and disinhibited eating. Contrary to prediction, urge to eat decreased following the mood induction procedure for those in the negative mood condition. This was not influenced by eating style (i.e., restrained or disinhibited eaters). Urge to eat subsequently increased following exposure to the food, but not the non-food, cue. This effect was moderated by negative mood and eating style with disinhibited eating being positively associated with urge to eat for those women in the negative mood condition. These findings suggest that negative mood plays a role in the tendency to overeat, but only in the context of personally desirable food cues and for a subgroup of women with a history of disinhibited eating.