Prospective memory, memory for future events, is used for remembering duties
and obligations that all people must complete. Past research has contributed to our understanding of the bases of prospective memory tasks (time versus event) and the kinds of situations requiring prospective memory (appointments, chores, deadlines, and medications). However, research has yet to examine how prospective remembering unfolds over time. For example, very little is known about how such remembering is affected by the time from when the task is encoded to the time that a task must be conducted (the retention interval), the length of the time in which a response can be counted as correct (the response window), and the time from a warning signal, if given, to the time that the prospective task must be completed (the anticipatory lag). This research
explored the accuracy and temporal precision to remember to complete a prospective
memory task. An accurate prospective remembering involves responding within a
response window. The precision of a prospective response refers to how close in time a response is to the ideal time expected of a response. Participants completed prospective memory tasks with three retention intervals ( 45 second, 60 second, and 7 5 second) and attempted to respond within a response window often seconds. Warning signals were either not presented or presented at five and fifteen seconds prior to the expected reaction
time. The results indicated that a warning signal affected both the accuracy and precision of prospective remebering such that shorter anticipatory lags created greater accuracy and lower failure rates.Michael Andrew SarapataHermann,DouglasNot ListedMaster of ScienceDepartment of PsychologyCunningham Memorial library, Terre Haute,Indiana State UniversityILL-ETD-037MastersTitle from document title page. Document formatted into pages: contains 56 p.: ill. Includes abstract and appendix

Sarapata, Michael Andrew

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THE INFLUENCE OF RETENTION INTERVALS AND WARNING SIGNALS ON PROSPECTIVE MEMORY A Master's Thesis Presented to The School of Graduate Studies Department ofPsychology Indiana State University Terre Haute, Indiana In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Science Degree by Michael Andrew Sarapata December 2001 INDIANASTA APPROVAL SHEET The thesis ofMichael Andrew Sarapata, Contribution to the School of Graduate Studies, Indiana State University, Series I, Number 2190, under the title The Influence of Retention Intervals and Warning Signals on Prospective Memory is approved as partial ful:fillment ofthe Master of Science Degree in the amount of six semester hours of graduate credit. Date I Daef Committee Member &:rLuate Studies II lll ABSTRACT Prospective memory, memory for future events, is used for remembering duties and obligations that all people must complete. Past research has contributed to our understanding of the bases of prospective memory tasks (time versus event) and the kinds of situations requiring prospective memory (appointments, chores, deadlines, and medications). However, research has yet to examine how prospective remembering unfolds over time. For example, very little is known about how such remembering is affected by the time from when the task is encoded to the time that a task must be conducted (the retention interval), the length of the time in which a response can be counted as correct (the response window), and the time from a warning signal, if given, to the time that the prospective task must be completed (the anticipatory lag). This research explored the accuracy and temporal precision to remember to complete a prospective memory task. An accurate prospective remembering involves responding within a response window. The precision of a prospective response refers to how close in time a response is to the ideal time expected of a response. Participants completed prospective memory tasks with three retention intervals ( 45 second, 60 second, and 7 5 second) and attempted to respond within a response window often seconds. Warning signals were either not presented or presented at five and fifteen seconds prior to the expected reaction time. The results indicated that a warning signal affected both the accuracy and precision of prospective remembering such that shorter anticipatory lags created greater accuracy and lower failure rates. IV IV TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ANJ) FIGURES ............................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 PILOT STUDY ONE ............................................................................... .12 PILOT STUDY TWO ............................................................................... .l6 PILOT STUDY TliREE ............................................................................. 20 EXPERIMENT ONE ................................................................................. 24 GENERAL DISCUSSION .......................................................................... 28 APPENDIXES ........................................................................................ 38 A. Prospective Memory Paradigm ....................................................... 38 B. Examples of Prospective Memory ................................................... .39 C. Informed Consent Form ................................................................ 40 D. Instructions ............................................................................... 41 E. Computer Instructions ................................................................... 42 F. Participant Information ................................................................. 43 G. Participant Information: Experiment One ........................................... .45 H. Experiment One: Instructions ....................................................... .47 I. Trial Record Form ...................................................................... 48 J. Computer Instructions: Experiment One ............................................ 50 K. Computer Screen ....................................................................... 51 BIBILIOGRAPHY .............................................................................. 52 v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1: Temporal Factor Studies ................................................................. 32 Table 2: Pilot Study 1 Trial Organizations ...................................................... .33 Table 3: Pilot Study 2 Trial Organizations ...................................................... .34 Table 4: Pilot Study 2 Means & Number of Errors ............................................ .35 Table 5: Pilot Study 3 Means & Number of Errors ............................................. .36 Table 6: Experiment One Means & Number ofErrors ......................................... .37 Figure 1: Results ofPilot Study 1. ................................................................ 55 Figure 2: Percentage of Failures of Warned Trials for Pilot Study 2 ........................ 56 INTRODUCTION Prospective memory refers to one's memory for activities to be performed in the future (Einstein & McDaniel, 1990). Prospective memory is an important cognitive process for everyone because it enables a person to remember where people are expected to be and what people must do at a certain time. Prospective memory failures can be costly to an individual and to those who work with the forgetful person. If a person is required to attend a meeting to discuss a business transaction and is not there, then that person will miss out on what the purpose of the transaction is, who will be involved in the transaction, where the transaction takes place, how the transaction will take place, and when the transaction will take place. Additionally, prospective memory failures will cause social damage with one's supervisor and co-workers (Meacham, 1988) who will see the forgetful individual as unreliable or not trustworthy. Prospective memory can produce serious detrimental effects socially. An individual may forget an anniversary or miss a family function. A missed social function can cause embarrassment as well as a lack of trust by the person(s) whose function was forgotten. --The Nature of Prospective Memory Tasks Prospective memory forgetting refers to the failure to do something at a specific time, or in a time interval (Kvavilashvili & Ellis, 1996). One reason for not completing a prospective memory task could be because of a failure to encode the information. If a person fails to properly encode that information then the action may never occur (Ellis, 1996). Additionally, ifthe information is encoded but encoded improperly, then the prospective memory task will occur but will not be at the right time or in the right way. The nature of a prospective memory task may determine how well a person may remember to complete a necessary prospective memory task. Event-based prospective memory is when environment cues are used to remember a task; for example, an alarm alerts a person to complete a task. Time-based prospective memory is when the specific passage oftime must be monitored to complete the task; for example, a person will estimate the amount of time that has passed without the aid of a reminder. Often prospective memory is influenced by both of these factors (McDaniel & Einstein, 1992). Prospective memories also differ in temporal aspects (Brubaker & Herrmann, 1998). There are three important temporal variables involved in a prospective memory task. These are the retention interval, anticipatory lag, and response interval. The retention interval is the time from the start of the prospective memory task to the time the prospective memory task is to be completed. The anticipatory lag is the time from a warning signal to the moment that the prospective memory task is to be completed. The response interval is the range in time that a person can complete a prospective memory task and the response would be scored as a success. Appendix A illustrates the temporal aspects of a prospective memory task. 2 There are several types of prospective memory (See Appendix B). Prospective memory may be as simple as being able to remember to pick up milk on the way home from work or as complicated as remembering an entire day of activities. Some prospective memory tasks include professional assignments necessary for career success and advancement. Other prospective memory tasks involve social tasks, including remembering events and information about family and friends. Prospective memory tasks also are vital in that success and survival of lives depends on remembering to execute actions within a given interval. While the distinctions between these types of prospective memory tasks are not always clear and unambiguous, this typology does distinguish between these types of prospective memory. Theoretical Explanations of Prospective Memory Remembering A number of theories have been proposed to explain the processes involved in prospective memory. For example, Tulving suggested the Cue Theory to explain prospective memory (Tulving, 1983). This theory emphasizes that a number of cues or a single cue elicits a response to carry out a prospective memory task. The cue or cues may also trigger the intention or initiate the search for other cues whose discovery may remember the intention. A somewhat related theory that also relies on cues proposes that prospective memory is associated with a person's feeling of knowing (Ceci & Bronfenbrenner, 1985). The central idea is that a person experiences a feeling, or a cue, that there is a task to be completed and whereupon the person begins a conscious search. This search is meant to discover what task must be completed. If the memory for the task is found, the person may carry out the task. 3 While Ceci and Bronfenbrenner's theory relies on a search to complete a task, a proposal that remembering a prospective memory task has to do with the awareness of the passage of time. This time monitoring model assumes that an individual will perform an intention when it's perceived that an appropriate amount oftime has lapsed so that the task may be completed (Andrezejewski, Moore, Corvette, & Herrmann, 1991). These theorists believed that people may refer to a clock or infer that the correct amount of time has passed for the prospective memory task must be completed. Once the intention is remembered then the intention may be completed. In contrast, Einstein and McDaniel ( 1996) proposed a notice plus search model. This theory suggests that a person notices a cue from the environment and then the person goes into an active search of memory to retrieve the prospective memory task that must be completed. The cue attracts the attention of the person and the person then begins a more conscious search for the prospective memory task A final theory is that an intention is completed once it emerges into consciousness (Herrmann, 1996) depending on familiarity and strength of the remembered intention. This theory explains how an intention can be remembered when there are few cues or other forms of remembering. All of the theories explained above have different perceived effort in remembering a prospective memory task. A prospective memory task may be initiated by an active search or be assisted by the environment. These theories provide a comprehensive examination of the internal attributes that may also cause a prospective memory failure. 4 5 Reasons for Prospective Memory Task Failures There are two distinct reasons why a prospective memory task may fail. As indicated in the theory by Einstein and McDaniel (1996), a cue from the environment will elicit a search response to find or remember the prospective memory task. A possible reason a person may fail a prospective memory task is the state of arousal that is incurred by the warning signal. For instance, if a prospective memory task comes too early an individual will be aroused to complete the prospective memory task but may respond too early resulting in a prospective memory task failure. Although, if the warning signal has occurred too early. an individual may forget to complete the task at a later time. However, this arousal will lessen as time passes resulting in the person forgetting what the warning signal was originally intended to do, which is remind the individual to complete the prospective memory task. Another reason is due to memory decay. Therefore, it is important to use an anticipatory lag that is appropriate in the sense that allows the individual to complete the task not early and not late. The appropriate anticipatory lag would arouse the individual to complete the task and should not come so late that the individual does not have adequate time to complete the prospective memory task. Kinds of Cues for Prospective Remembering Cues are critical to remembering. People can remember without external cues but it is unlikely that they will. Some cues are natural such as when the sight of some person or object makes a person to think of the future task. People arrange for certain cues to be present in a situation where the cues do not normally occur because these cues will elicit 6 the intentions to do something. Cues can be active or passive (Harris, 1984). An active cue changes or fluctuates, such as a beeping sound or a flashing light. The likelihood that a cue will catch attention, such as an alarm clock, and foster remembering increases across natural cues, passive cues, and active cues. Findings Pertinent to Prospective Remembering In examining why prospective memory fails it is important to examine a number of factors. Table 1 provides a summary list of studies that examine factors involved in the investigation of prospective memory. One factor is the amount of cognitive processing that must occur for the prospective memory task to be a success. One study investigated the number of cognitive tasks participants needed to complete and their prospective memory ability (Marsh & Hicks, 1998). In this study, participants were given range oftasks to complete and then measured on accuracy and completion of task. When participants had fewer cognitive tasks to complete, there were fewer prospective memory failures. The Role of Reminding A factor in determining if a prospective memory task will be completed is the reminder to complete the task. The work reported by McDaniel and Einstein ( 1992) indicated that the execution of a prospective memory task is either executed by the passage of time, by a time-based cue, or by an event-based environmental cue. Earlier research has shown that an event-based reminder is helpful in reminding the individual to complete the prospective memory task (Doerner, 1987). Event-based reminders are most --commonly audible, such as a warning signal. This may also be visual, such as a blinking light. Devices that present both audible and visual event-based reminders have been found to generally aid a person in remembering to complete a prospective memory task (Ceci & Bronfenbrenner, 1985; Einstein & McDaniel, 1990; Einstein, McDaniel, Richardson, Guynn, & Cufner, 1995; Harris & Wilkins, 1982; Herrmann, Yoder, Wells, & Raybeck, 1996; Kvavilashvili, 1987). Reminders improve prospective memory performance; however, it has been unclear what properties render a signal most effective. In what capacity do reminders aid in a prospective memory task? In one study participants were allowed to use a clock to complete their prospective memory. A clock can be helpful to aid participants in their retention task (Ceci & Bronfenbrenner, 1985), but a clock does not actively remind a person such as done by an audible signal or flashing light (Harris, 1982). A study by Herrmann, Yoder, Sheets, Wells, and Brubaker (1998) examined how an audible warning signal, delivered by a palmtop-reminding device, aided performance on a prospective memory task. The device activated the signal for a prospective memory task in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Additionally, the signals were given at different anticipatory lags. The anticipatory lags occurred at zero minutes, ten minutes, and twenty minutes prior to the time that the task was to be performed. The results indicated that audible warning signals can help prevent memory failures but will not guarantee a successful execution of a memory task. As suggested by Brubaker and Herrmann (see Appendix A), a warning signal that comes too late or too early may result in a failed prospective memory task. The anticipatory lag may influence whether or not a prospective memory task is remembered 7 --at the appropriate time and may be the key to preventing an individual from completing the prospective memory task too early or too late. Prospective memory, like all forms of memory, must be affected by the retention interval, the time from the initial encoding of the prospective memory task to the time that the prospective memory task should be completed. There are two features of a retention interval that favor completing a prospective memory task. One feature is that the retention interval must be long enough for an individual to encode the information and prepare to complete the prospective memory task. For instance, if a prospective memory task is to occur in two seconds it is likely by the time that you understand the task and what must be done to complete the prospective memory task, the correct time to complete the prospective memory task has passed. The second feature is that the prospective memory task be long enough that it is not a short-term memory task but not so far in advance that the person may forget the procedures to complete the prospective memory task. For instance, if a person is told to remember to call their sister in 30 seconds this may fall into a description of short-term memory. The person could simply rehearse "Call sister" until he/she has reached the phone. Also, the theory is that the decay of the short-term memory task has occurred and the person has taken steps to remember the prospective memory task. This theory is in specific reference to short-term memory decay examined by Peterson and Peterson (1959). In the research completed by Peterson and Peterson, subjects are asked to remember three consonants to remember. The participants are then asked to remember the consonants at different periods of time. During the course of remembering these words, subjects are asked to count backwards by 8 

The influence of retention intervals and warning signals on prospective memory.

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