Future thinking instructions improve prospective memory performance in adolescents.

Studies on prospective memory (PM) development in adolescents point to age-related increases through to adulthood. The goal of the present study was to examine whether instructing adolescents to engage in an episodic prospection of themselves executing future actions (i.e., future thinking) when forming an intention would improve their PM performance and reduce age-related differences. Further, we set out to explore whether future thinking instructions result in stronger memory traces and/or stronger cue-context associations by evaluating retrospective memory for the PM cues after task completion and monitoring costs during PM task processing. Adolescents and young adults were allocated to either the future thinking, repeated-encoding or standard condition. As expected, adolescents had fewer correct PM responses than young adults. Across age groups, PM performance in the standard condition was lower than in the other encoding conditions. Importantly, the results indicate a significant interaction of age by encoding condition. While adolescents benefited most from future thinking instructions, young adults performed best in the repeated-encoding condition. The results also indicate that the beneficial effects of future thinking may result from deeper intention-encoding through the simulation of future task performance.

The Role of Extrinsic Rewards and Cue-Intention Association in Prospective Memory in Young Children.

The current study examined, for the first time, the effect of cue-intention association, as well as the effects of promised extrinsic rewards, on prospective memory in young children, aged 5-years-old (n = 39) and 7-years-old (n = 40). Children were asked to name pictures for a toy mole, whilst also having to remember to respond differently to certain target pictures (prospective memory task). The level to which the target picture was associated with the intention was manipulated across two conditions (low- or high-association) for all participants, whilst half of the participants were promised a reward for good prospective memory performance. Results showed a main effect of age, with the 7-year-olds outperforming the 5-year-olds. Furthermore, there was a main effect of reward, with those promised a reward performing better than those who were not. No effect was found for cue-association, with the participants of both age groups performing equally well in both association conditions. No significant interactions were found between any of the variables. The potentially important role of reward in young children's everyday prospective memory tasks, and possible reasons for the lack of a reflexive-associative effect, are discussed.

Prospective memory in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders: exploring effects of implementation intentions and retrospective memory load.

This study examined, for the first time, the impact of implementation intentions on prospective memory (PM) performance in adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and further explored the role of retrospective memory for PM in ASD. PM was assessed with Virtual Week, a computerized game simulating upcoming everyday-life tasks. Twenty-seven adults with ASD and 27 age- and ability-matched controls were included. Half of the participants were instructed to form implementation intentions (i.e., encoding PM tasks in form of if-then statements), while the rest received simple PM instructions. Results provide first tentative evidence for beneficial effects of implementation intentions and PM tasks with low demands on retrospective memory for adults with ASD's PM. Overall, results point to the importance of planning and retrospective memory for successful prospective remembering in ASD.

Task dissociation in prospective memory performance in individuals with ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated, for the first time, event- and time-based prospective memory (PM) in the same sample of adults with ADHD within one paradigm using parallel task constraints. METHOD: A total of 25 individuals with ADHD and 25 matched neurotypical controls completed a computerized version of the Dresden Breakfast Task, which required participants to prepare breakfast following a set of rules and time restrictions. RESULTS: Although groups did not differ in event-based PM, results demonstrated a large-sized impairment in individuals with ADHD in time-based PM. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest a task-specific impairment in PM functioning and are discussed in an executive control framework of neurocognitive functioning in ADHD.

Time-based prospective memory in young children-Exploring executive functions as a developmental mechanism.

The present study investigated time-based prospective memory (PM) during the transition from kindergarten/preschool to school age and applied mediation models to test the impact of executive functions (working memory, inhibitory control) and time monitoring on time-based PM development. Twenty-five preschool (age: M = 5.75, SD = 0.28) and 22 primary school children (age: M = 7.83, SD = 0.39) participated. To examine time-based PM, children had to play a computer-based driving game requiring them to drive a car on a road without hitting others cars (ongoing task) and to refill the car regularly according to a fuel gauge, which serves as clock equivalent (PM task). The level of gas that was still left in the fuel gauge was not displayed on the screen and children had to monitor it via a button press (time monitoring). Results revealed a developmental increase in time-based PM performance from preschool to school age. Applying the mediation models, only working memory was revealed to influence PM development. Neither inhibitory control alone nor the mediation paths leading from both executive functions to time monitoring could explain the link between age and time-based PM. Thus, results of the present study suggest that working memory may be one key cognitive process driving the developmental growth of time-based PM during the transition from preschool to school age.