Aging and the strategic use of context to control prospective memory monitoring

Psychology and Aging
B Hunter Ball, Julie M Bugg

Abstract

Monitoring the environment for the occurrence of prospective memory (PM) targets is a resource-demanding process that produces cost to ongoing activities. The current study investigated younger and older adults' ability to monitor strategically, which involves the heightening and relaxation of monitoring when it is contextually appropriate thereby affording conservation of limited-capacity attentional resources. Participants performed a lexical-decision task in which words or nonwords were presented in upper or lower locations of the screen. The specific condition was correctly informed that PM targets ("tor" syllable) would occur only in word trials (simple cue; Experiment 1), in word trials in the upper location (complex cue; Experiments 2 and 3A), or in red trials in the upper location (complex cue; Experiment 3B), whereas the nonspecific condition was told that targets could appear in any context. The results showed that older adults generally exhibited similar monitoring patterns as younger adults. When context varied randomly on each trial, younger and older adults in the specific condition utilized simple (Experiment 1) but not complex (Experiment 2) contextual cues to reduce monitoring in unexpected contexts relative to...Continue Reading

Citations

Oct 20, 2019·Memory & Cognition·B Hunter BallJulie M Bugg
Feb 13, 2018·Psychonomic Bulletin & Review·B Hunter Ball, Julie M Bugg
Jan 10, 2021·Memory & Cognition·Vanessa K BowdenShayne Loft

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