Event-based Prospective Memory Research Articles

Prospective Memory Function Predicts Future Cognitive Decline and Incident Dementia.

This study aimed to test whether prospective memory (PM) was an early cognitive marker of future cognitive decline and incident dementia using longitudinal data spanning 8years from the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study. At baseline, 121 participants aged 72-91years were tested in PM using a validated PM task, Virtual Week, which included time- and event-based tasks presented with varying regularity. Responses were scored "Correct" if completed accurately and "Missed" if the target was not remembered at any time. Measures of cognition were taken at baseline and 2-year intervals over 8years. Dementia diagnoses were made by expert consensus panels using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria. Linear mixed models and Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to analyze the data, controlling for potential confounds. Both decreased PM accuracy and missed PM responses were associated with rate of cognitive decline measured by Mini-Mental State Examination over 8years and global cognitive decline over 4years. Risk of incident dementia increased with poorer baseline PM ability and missed responses. These effects remained significant after controlling for baseline cognition and were strongest for event-based and regular PM tasks. PM is a sensitive early marker of future cognitive decline and risk of incident dementia. PM tasks supported by spontaneous retrieval (event-based) and those with lower retrospective memory demands (regular tasks) function as particularly sensitive predictors. In other words, deficits in performing less effortful PM tasks best predicted cognitive decline. These findings may encourage clinicians to incorporate PM tasks in clinical assessments.

Lower prospective memory is associated with higher neurocognitive dispersion in two samples of people with HIV: A conceptual replication study.

People living with HIV (PLWH) often experience deficits in the strategic/executive aspects of prospective memory (PM) that can interfere with instrumental activities of daily living. This study used a conceptual replication design to determine whether cognitive intraindividual variability, as measured by dispersion (IIV-dispersion), contributes to PM performance and symptoms among PLWH. Study 1 included 367 PLWH who completed a comprehensive clinical neuropsychological test battery, the Memory for Intentions Test (MIsT), and the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ). Study 2 included 79 older PLWH who completed the Cogstate cognitive battery, the Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT), an experimental measure of time-based PM, and the PRMQ. In both studies, a mean-adjusted coefficient of variation was derived to measure IIV-dispersion using normative T-scores from the cognitive battery. Higher IIV-dispersion was significantly associated with lower time-based PM performance at small-to-medium effect sizes in both studies (mean r s =-0.30). The relationship between IIV-dispersion and event-based PM performance was comparably small in magnitude in both studies (r s =-0.19, -0.20), but it was only statistically significant in Study 1. IIV-dispersion showed very small, nonsignificant relationships with self-reported PM symptoms in both samples (r s < 0.10). Extending prior work in healthy adults, these findings suggest that variability in performance across a cognitive battery contributes to laboratory-based PM accuracy, but not perceived PM symptoms, among PLWH. Future studies might examine whether daily fluctuations in cognition or other aspects of IIV (e.g., inconsistency) play a role in PM failures in everyday life.

Effect of time pressure and cue salience on event-based prospective memory

Effect of time pressure and cue salience on event-based prospective memory

Effects of task characteristics and individual traits on the aftereffects of event-based prospective memory and its mechanism

Effects of task characteristics and individual traits on the aftereffects of event-based prospective memory and its mechanism

Do emotionally salient cues improve prospective memory performance in children and adolescents with autism?

BackgroundProspective memory (PM) describes the ability to initiate and perform a planned action after a delay. Previous studies suggest reduced PM in autism spectrum disorder (ASD); especially when tasks put high demands on executive control resources. Increasing cue salience by presenting emotional cues improves PM performance in non-autistic populations. AimsTo explore whether children with ASD, whose processing of emotionally connoted information might differ from that of typically developing children, may also benefit from this type of salience in PM tasks. Methods and proceduresTwenty-five children with and 25 children without ASD completed a 1-back ongoing task into which an event-based PM task was embedded. Emotional salience of PM cues was varied. Outcomes and resultsChildren with ASD performed as well as children without ASD on the PM task and equally benefited from emotionally salient cues. Specifically, negative cues increased PM performance compared to neutral cues in both groups Conclusions and implicationsThe findings are consistent with the multiprocess framework which postulates that salient PM cues increase performance by promoting automatic intention retrieval and reducing executive control demands. Children with ASD seem to show similar comprehension and accessibility to emotional cues as typically developing children.

Effects of virtual reality working memory training on event-based prospective memory in patients with major depressive disorder

BackgroundEvent-based prospective memory (EBPM) refers to remembering to perform delayed intention when specific events occur. EBPM deficit is present in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and hinders recovery from the illness. Working memory training (WMT) has been reported to enhance EBPM but its effect on EBPM in MDD remains unclear. We investigated whether virtual reality (VR)-based WMT can improve EBPM in MDD patients. MethodsForty-six MDD patients and 41 healthy controls (HC) were recruited. Among the former ones, the first 23 consecutive patients were allocated to the experimental group (MDD-VR) and the next 23 consecutive patients to the waitlist control group (MDD-W). EBPM accuracy was used to assess EBPM performance. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and Massachusetts General Hospital Cognitive and Physical Functioning Questionnaire (CPFQ) were employed to assess the cognitive functions and the depressive symptoms. ResultsAt baseline, EBPM accuracy did not significantly differ between MDD-VR and MDD-W but was lower in both of these two groups than in HC (both p < 0.001). Group-by-time interactions on EBPM accuracy (F = 4.614, p = 0.031) and CPFQ score (F = 5.754, p = 0.021) were present, whereas no significant group-by-time interaction or group effects were observed for HDRS score (both p > 0.05). After VR intervention, MDD-VR showed an increase in EBPM accuracy (Cohen's d = 1.20 [95% CI: 0.53, 1.86], p = 0.001). ConclusionsOur results demonstrated that VR-based WMT could improve EBPM deficits in MDD patients. Large-scale studies of a VR-based WMT program are indicated.

Target learning in event-based prospective memory.

Event-based prospective memory (PM) tasks require individuals to remember to perform a previously planned action when they encounter a specific event. Often, the natural environments in which PM tasks occur are embedded are constantly changing, requiring humans to adapt by learning. We examine one such adaptation by integrating PM target learning with the prospective memory decision control (PMDC) cognitive model. We apply this augmented model to an experiment that manipulated exposure to PM targets, comparing a single-target PM condition where the target was well learned from the outset, to a multiple-target PM condition with less initial PM target exposure, allowing us to examine the effect of continued target learning opportunities. Single-target PM accuracy was near ceiling whereas multiple-target PM accuracy was initially poorer but improved throughout the course of the experiment. PM response times were longer for the multiple- compared with single-target PM task but this difference also decreased over time. The model indicated that PM trial evidence accumulation rates, and the inhibition of competing responses, were initially higher for single compared to multiple PM targets, but that this difference decreased over time due to the learning of multiple-targets over the target repetitions. These outcomes provide insight into how the processes underlying event-based PM can dynamically evolve over time, and a modeling framework to further investigate the effect of learning on event-based PM decision processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The Role of Non-Cognitive Factors in Prospective Memory in Older Adults

A key neuro-cognitive function that promotes autonomy and everyday functioning in old age is prospective memory (PM), defined as the capacity to remember to carry out intentions in the future. This study aimed at understanding if non-cognitive factors of metacognition and motivation are related to event-based and time-based laboratory PM, as well as to naturalistic PM in older adults, above and beyond the influences of neuropsychological determinants. We applied regression analyses predicting individual differences in classical PM tasks, in a sample of 99 healthy older participants (aged 64–88 years). Results indicated that metacognition, measured as memory self-efficacy and perceived competence in cognitive tasks, was related to laboratory time-based PM. Consistency of interests, a motivational factor, was associated with naturalistic PM. None of the non-cognitive factors related to event-based PM. Our study underlines the importance of considering non-cognitive characteristics when evaluating PM capacity, a key component of cognitive aging.

Role of Prospective Memory in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

The role of memory in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been an area of research that has yielded mixed results, particularly in prospective memory (PM) functioning. Hence, one objective of the study was to assess PM deficits in patients with OCD. Also, research in this area has been sparse, and most researchers have used questionnaires and people with subclinical symptoms of OCD, which might have impacted the generalizability of the findings. Thus, the second objective was to assess PM functioning using a performance-based task in persons with OCD having clinical symptoms. This is a cross-sectional comparative study of 30 adults with OCD and 30 adults without psychiatric morbidity. The tools used were Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DY-BOCS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ 12), and Cambridge Prospective Memory Test (CAMPROMPT). Event-based PM was significantly poor in the OCD group. In time-based PM, no significant difference was found between the groups. Three subgroups in OCD, predominantly obsessions, predominantly compulsions, and mixed types, did not differ significantly with respect to PM. The result suggested a deficit of event-based PM in OCD, which can help understand the psychopathology of memory deficit in the clinical population and bridge the gap with respect to memory research in this domain.

Event-Related Brain Potential Correlates of Event-Based Prospective Memory in Children With Learning Disability.

Prospective memory (PM) has been reported to be impaired in children with learning disabilities (LD), but few studies have examined the underlying neural mechanism of this impairment. To address this issue, the present study applied ERP technique to explore the difference of event-based prospective memory (EBPM) in 21 children with LD and 20 non-LD children with double task paradigm. Results from behavioral data showed that LD children exhibited lower accuracy than non-LD children. The ERP results showed that the two groups displayed significant difference in the ERP components, with longer N300 latency in LD group, but there was no obvious difference found in the prospective positivity component. The present findings seem to indicate that the poor performance of LD children on PM task might be result from deficits in PM cues detection. These results provided evidence for the existence of altered PM processing in LD children, which was characterized by a selective deficit in cues detection of PM. Therefore, these findings shed new light on the neurophysiological processes underlying PM in children with LD.

Prior experience with target encounter affects attention allocation and prospective memory performance

We examined how prior experience encountering targets affected attention allocation and event-based prospective memory. Participants performed four color match task blocks with a difficult, but specified prospective memory task (Experiment 1) or an easier, but unspecified prospective memory task (Experiment 2). Participants were instructed to search for targets on each block. Participants in the prior experience condition saw targets on each block, participants in the no prior experience condition only saw targets on the fourth block, and, in Experiment 2, participants in the mixed prior experience condition encountered some of the targets on the first three blocks, and saw all the targets on the fourth block. In Experiment 1, participants in the no prior experience condition were less accurate at recognizing targets and quicker to respond on ongoing task trials than participants in the prior experience condition. In Experiment 2, we replicated the effect of prior experience on target accuracy, but there was no effect on ongoing trial response time. The mixed experience condition did not vary from the other conditions on either dependent variable, but their target accuracy varied in accordance with their experience. These findings demonstrate that prospective memory performance is influenced by experience with related tasks, thus extending our understanding of the dynamic nature of search efforts across related prospective memory tasks. This research has implications for understanding prospective memory in applied settings where targets do not reliably occur such as baggage screenings and missing person searches.

Associations between Intra-Individual Neurocognitive Variability and Prospective Memory in Veterans with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury History and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequently co-occur and are associated with neurocognitive intra-individual variability (IIV) and difficulty with prospective memory (PM). The current study aimed to examine associations between IIV and PM in this comorbid group. Fifty veterans with a history of blast mTBI and current comorbid PTSD completed a standardized neurocognitive battery to measure IIV, and the Memory for Intentions Screening Test measuring PM. Adjusting for age, education, and race, higher IIV was associated with poorer time-based PM (p < .001, f2 = .34), but not event-based PM. In a subset of the sample with self-report data, higher IIV was associated with poorer self-reported retrospective memory, but not PM. Cognitive variability on a standardized neuropsychological battery was associated with strategically demanding PM, which is an ecologically relevant ability and highlights the possible connection between subtle cognitive difficulties in-clinic and those experienced in daily life.

“Remember to take your medication”: Prospective memory in Korsakoff’s syndrome

ABSTRACT Background While event-based prospective memory refers to enacting intending action in response to a specific event or cue (“e.g., When I tell you there are 10 minutes left, please give me this stopwatch”), time-based prospective memory refers to enacting intending action in relation to a specific time (“In 10 minutes time, please ask me for a pencil”). Relative to event-based prospective memory, little is known about time-based prospective memory in Korsakoff’s syndrome (KS). Method We used behavioral tasks to investigate event- and time-based prospective memory as well as episodic memory and executive function in patients with KS and control participants. Results Analysis demonstrated lower event- and time-based prospective memory in patients with KS than in control participants. Interestingly, we found lower time-based than event-based prospective memory in patients with KS. Further, significant correlations were observed between prospective memory and episodic memory and executive function in the patients. Conclusions Prospective memory is important for everyday life tasks, and failures of prospective memory can endanger patients’ safety. One clinical implication of our findings is the importance of including an evaluation of prospective memory in cognitive evaluation of KS.

Episodic and prospective memory difficulties in 13-year-old children born very preterm.

Children born very preterm (VP) are susceptible to a range of cognitive impairments, yet the effects of VP birth on long-term, episodic, and prospective memory remains unclear. This study examined episodic and prospective memory functioning in children born VP compared with their term-born counterparts at 13 years. VP (n = 81: born <30 weeks' gestation) and term (n = 26) groups were aged between 12 and 14 years. Children completed: (i) standardized verbal and visuospatial episodic memory tests; and (ii) an experimental time- and event-based prospective memory test that included short-term (within assessment session) and long-term (up to 1-week post-session) tasks. Parents completed a questionnaire assessing memory functions in everyday life. The VP group performed worse on all measures of verbal and visuospatial episodic memory than the term group. While there were no group differences in event-based or long-term prospective memory, the VP group performed worse on time-based and short-term prospective memory tasks than term-born counterparts. Parents of children born VP reported more everyday memory difficulties than parents of children born at term, with parent-ratings indicating significantly elevated rates of everyday memory challenges in children born VP. Children born VP warrant long-term surveillance, as challenges associated with VP birth include memory difficulties at 13 years. This study highlights the need for greater research and clinical attention into childhood functional memory outcomes.

Improving self-awareness of prospective memory function after TBI using experiential feedback on a board game activity: An observational study

ABSTRACT This study investigated whether experiential and video feedback on performance of prospective memory (PM) tasks embedded within a board game activity improved self-awareness of PM function in adults with moderate-severe traumatic brain injury. An observational pre–post study design with 26 participants from a larger trial of a 6-session PM rehabilitation programme. Sessions 3 and 4 included a board game activity with embedded time-, event-, and activity-based PM tasks. Verbal feedback was provided by therapists during the game and video feedback afterwards. Self-ratings of performance were used to divide the sample into under-estimators (n = 7), accurate estimators (n = 9) and over-estimators (n = 10) of actual PM performance. The discrepancy between self- and therapist ratings of PM performance was measured before and after the game, and following video feedback, and compared between timepoints using non-parametric statistics. Post-task self-evaluations were more accurate than pre-task self-evaluations for the under- and over-estimator groups. Under-estimators showed significant improvement in accuracy of ratings for activity-based PM. Over-estimators showed improvement for event-based PM. Further improvements after video feedback were not significant. The board game activity provided a vehicle for experiential feedback and a means of engaging both those with impaired self-awareness and heightened self-awareness of PM in cognitive rehabilitation.

Medication management and treatment adherence in Parkinson's disease patients with mild cognitive impairment.

The key feature that distinguishes mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from dementia is the absence of significant functional decline because of cognitive impairment. In Parkinson's disease patients (PD) with MCI (PD-MCI), the effect of cognitive impairment on complex instrumental daily activities, such as medication management, is not well established. 26 patients with PD-MCI (diagnosed to Level 2 Movement Disorders Society diagnostic criteria) and 32 idiopathic PD patients without cognitive impairment participated in the study. A detailed neuropsychological testing battery (including tests for attention and working memory, executive functions, language, visuospatial functions, episodic memory) and various prospective memory tasks were applied to the patients. Medication taking behaviors were evaluated using two different methods based on the performance (medication management ability assessment) and self-reporting (adherence scale). The PD-MCI group obtained significantly lower scores in medication management assessment and made more mistakes on following prescription instructions (e.g., they took more or less tablets and did not use medications as instructed with regard to meal times). Cognitive areas predicting success in medication management performance were language, event-based prospective memory and visuospatial functions. There was no significant difference between the two groups' self-reporting of adherence. Mild cognitive impairment in patients with PD adversely affects medication management. Diagnosing MCI in PD is important to ensure that the appropriate measures can be taken to provide support and improve the medication management process. Adherence assessments based on self-reporting may not provide reliable and sensitive information in patients with PD-MCI.

The effect of EF on PM performance in school-age children

ABSTRACT Prospective memory (PM) is vital for children to live independently. Theoretical and empirical evidence has shown that executive function (EF) plays an important role in children’s PM. However, there is no EF training for the PM of school-age children. Therefore, a 4-week EF training programme was conducted in this study to investigate the transfer effects of training on event-based PM in 8- to 12-year-old children. Children were randomly assigned to the EF training or control groups. The results revealed that EF training was more effective in enhancing children’s PM performance; in particular, there was a transfer effect of EF. Further findings suggested that this transfer effect was observed only in older children, which supported the magnification account that those with strong EF abilities profit most. Moreover, the benefits of training were predicted by inhibition and switching ability. Altogether, EF training has the potential to improve children’s PM, especially for children with better EF.

Prospective Memory Influences Social Functioning in People With First-Episode Schizophrenia: A Network Analysis and Longitudinal Study.

Background: Prospective memory (PM) impairment is associated with impaired social functioning, but evidence is limited to chronic schizophrenia samples and cross-sectional design. The aim of this study was to utilize network analysis to address the complex interplay between PM, psychopathology, and functional outcome.Methods: This longitudinal study recruited 119 people with first-episode DSM-IV schizophrenia and followed up with them for 2 to 6 years. PM and working memory were assessed at baseline (in 2010-2015) using valid computerized tasks and the Letter-Number Span Test, respectively. Psychopathology and social functioning were assessed at endpoint (in 2016-2017) using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS), respectively. Network analysis examined the effect of baseline PM on SOFAS while accounting for the effects of psychopathology.Results: The resultant network showed that social functioning, PANSS positive symptoms, and PANSS general symptoms clustered together, whereas time-based and event-based PM and working memory formed another cluster. Time-based PM linked event-based PM and working memory with social functioning. Time-based PM (expected influence [EI] = 0.69), event-based PM (EI = 0.65), and working memory (EI = 0.83) demonstrated high values of expected influence, but social functioning (variance explained = 0.685) and PANSS negative (variance explained = 0.657) and general (variance explained = 0.583) subscales demonstrated high values of predictability.Conclusions: Time-based PM is the central node linking neurocognitive functions with social functioning. PM and working memory are "target" nodes for interventions bringing changes to the network, whereas social functioning and psychopathology are "malleable" nodes. PM and working memory are promising intervention targets for functional recovery in schizophrenia.

Recreational drug use and prospective memory.

Prospective memory (PM) impairment in recreational drug users has been documented in recent years. However, most studies on the effects of drugs on PM contain several methodological challenges, such as small sample size (< 100 participants), unrepresentative sample type (e.g., student or patient), short abstinence period (< 7days), and lack of control of potential confounds (e.g., sleep and IQ). The present study investigated the possible consequences of recreational drug use on prospective memory, using self-report and lab-based prospective memory measures while overcoming the methodological challenges. The sample was composed of 47 non-users (27 females, age range from 18 to 50 +) and 53 drug users (21 females, age range from 18 to 50 +). Recreational drug users reported significantly more deficits in the long-term episodic, short-term habitual, and internally cued PM failures subscales of the Prospective Memory Questionnaire. However, these deficits were eliminated after controlling for covariates (e.g., age, sleep quality, general health, alcohol usage). Recreational drug users also performed worse than non-users in the short-term, long-term, event-based, and time-based PM subscales of the Royal Prince Alfred Prospective Memory Test. These results remained significant after controlling for the covariates. Drug users demonstrated greater impairments on time-based and long-term PM tasks thought to be linked with executive functioning. Taken together, the present study provides further support for recreational drug-related deficits in PM and highlights a dissociation between self-report and lab-based PM measures.

Effect of Encoding on Prospective Memory.

Event-based prospective memory (ProM) refers to remembering to execute planned actions in response to a target ProM cues. Encoding modality influences ProM performance; visual encoding has been studied more than auditory encoding. Further, it has not yet been examined whether different encoding may influence ProM performance in different encoding modalities. This study examines the effects of encoding modality (visual vs. auditory), cue-encoding specificity (specific cue vs. non-specific cue), and encoding modes (standard vs. implementation intention) on event-based ProM tasks. In Experiment 1, cue specificity and encoding modality were manipulated as a within-groups encoding of visual cues is more commonly and between-groups variable. Results revealed the facilitative effect of cue specificity on ProM performance. Also, with respect to encoding modality, participants showed better performance when receiving auditory instructions compared with the visual encoding condition. In Experiment 2, as in Experiment 1, cue specificity and encoding modality were manipulated. Encoding mode was added as a new between-group variable. Result revealed that there was a significant interaction between encoding modality and encoding modes. Visual implementation intention encoding was a more effective method for improving ProM performance compared with visual standard encoding. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction between cue-encoding specificity and encoding modes. Implementation intention encoding enhances ProM performance in non-specific cue-encoding conditions. Overall, the present study found that (1) auditory encoding modality showed superior ProM performance compared with visual encoding, although implementation intention had facilitative on ProM performance regardless of the encoding modalities, and (2) there was better ProM performance under specific encoding compared with non-specific encoding, and implementation intention had a facilitative effect on ProM performance in the non-specific condition.