Event versus activity-based cues and motivation in school-related prospective memory tasks

PLoS One. 2019 Apr 19;14(4):e0215845. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215845. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Prospective memory (PM), the ability to remember an intention in the future, is essential to children's everyday lives. We explored age differences (6- to 7- vs. 10- to 11-year-olds) in PM depending on the nature of the task and the children's motivation. Children performed event-based PM tasks (in which the cue was presented during the ongoing activity) and activity-based PM tasks (in which the cue consisted of finishing the ongoing activity). Additionally, the children were assigned to either a reward condition or a no-reward condition. The results showed better performance in event than in activity based tasks, with older children outperforming younger children in both. There was a marginal effect of reward for PM accuracy. These patterns suggest that the cue detection process and children's motivation play a role in PM performance during development.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Child
  • Cues*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Intention*
  • Male
  • Memory, Episodic*
  • Mental Recall / physiology
  • Motivation*
  • Psychological Tests
  • Reward
  • Schools