A-161 Swiping Left on External Reminders, Internal Monitoring, and Recollections: Level of Importance Predicts Greater Likelihood of Prospective Memory Success during Smartphone Use

Abstract

Abstract Objective This study aimed to understand the implications that smartphones have for prospective memory (PM) performance. We examined normal adults’ performance on an event-based PM task embedded in an online survey, and its relationship with the PM strategies used prior to the PM cue. Method Participants included 349 individuals aged >18— (M = 38.31; SD = 11.15); 62% male; non-Hispanic (83.38%); with education = HS diploma or less (8.31%), some college (12.61%), and college degree (79.08%)—recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Participants completed the survey on their smartphones. The PM task required participants to respond “N/A” to a question presented later in the survey. Follow-up questions were asked about the use of external reminders, internal monitoring, recollections, and level of importance participants attributed to the PM task. Results One third of participants were successful on the PM task. Of those who had PM success, 11.50% used external reminders, 53.10% used internal monitoring strategies, 62.83% had recollections, and 95.56% considered the task at least somewhat important to remember. Logistic regression revealed that non-Hispanic ethnicity, ≤ high school education, and high perceived importance predicted PM success (Table 1). Interestingly, 40% of individuals with PM failure used external reminders, showing a significant negative relationship with PM success. Conclusions We found that external reminders, internal monitoring, and recollections may make PM success less likely during smartphone use—strategies which were associated with PM success in previous research. Only perceived importance predicted PM success, akin to previous findings. Implications reveal that smartphones may change the demands of PM tasks.