Scientific article
OA Policy
English

The delay period as an opportunity to think about future intentions: Effects of delay length and delay task difficulty on young adult's prospective memory performance

Published inPsychological Research, vol. 82, no. 3, p. 607-616
Publication date2018
Abstract

The current study examined the impact of length and difficulty of the delay task on young adult's event-based prospective memory (PM). Participants engaged in either a short (2.5 min) or a long (15 min) delay that was filled with either a simple item categorization task or a difficult cognitive task. They also completed a questionnaire on whether they thought about the PM intention during the delay period and how often they thought about it. Results revealed that participants' PM was better after a difficult delay task compared to an easy delay task. Participants thought about the PM intention more often during the difficult delay task than during the easy delay task. PM performance was positively related to participants' reports of how many times they thought about their intentions. The important role of delay task difficulty in allowing or preventing individuals from refreshing their future intentions is discussed.

Citation (ISO format)
MAHY, Caitlin E. V. et al. The delay period as an opportunity to think about future intentions: Effects of delay length and delay task difficulty on young adult’s prospective memory performance. In: Psychological Research, 2018, vol. 82, n° 3, p. 607–616. doi: 10.1007/s00426-017-0841-2
Main files (2)
Article (Published version)
accessLevelRestricted
Article (Accepted version)
accessLevelPublic
Identifiers
Additional URL for this publicationhttp://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00426-017-0841-2
Journal ISSN0340-0727
447views
325downloads

Technical informations

Creation08/01/2019 12:12:00
First validation08/01/2019 12:12:00
Update15/03/2023 15:45:28
Status update15/03/2023 15:45:27
Last indexation31/10/2024 12:44:16
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack