Prospective Memory: The Effect of Cognitive Load and Task Focality on Prospective Memory Performance

Abstract

‘Prospective memory’ (PM) is the ability to remember to perform intended actions in the future. The number of targets to be monitored (i.e. task load) and the closeness of the PM target to the ongoing task (ONG) (i.e. task focality) have been found to impact PM performance. The purpose of the current study is to address limitations of previous research into the effect of task load and task focality on participants’ prospective memory performance in event-based prospective memory (EBPM) tasks, and to investigate whether these conditions affect participants’ strategy of retrieval (as set out in the multiprocess framework). A modified version of the test used in Cantarella et al., (2023) was administered online to four groups: low-load focal targets (LF; N = 14), low-load non-focal targets (LN; N = 14), high-load focal targets (HF; N = 17), and high-load non-focal targets (HN; N = 13) to determine whether prospective memory related changes were evident. A Stroop test preceded the EBPM test to account for the potentially confounding variable of processing speed. In keeping with previous findings, the effect of task load and focality had a significant effect on PM performance in respect to both reaction time (RT) and accuracy. Furthermore, results identified that participants’ possessing speed had a significant effect on RT in ONG tasks, but not for PM retrieval. Contrary to previous literature the effect of the interaction between factors was only significant for PM performance accuracy, not RT. It was concluded that PM retrieval relies on different, more costly mechanisms when exposed to increased task complexity. The results emphasise the importance of focality in successful PM retrieval. Future research should look to implement standardised methods of task response and consider individual differences in processing speed to ensure that RT in EBPM tasks is not affected by these when investigating PM performance