Exploring the Relationship between Planning and Prospective Memory

Abstract

Articulatory suppression / manipulations of working memory (i.e., poetic language) were examined in relation to planning and prospective memory, memory for actions to be performed in the future. Two experiments were conducted to explore these individual difference measures. Experiment 1 required participants to answer 90 trivia questions and complete embedded time- and event-based prospective memory tasks. The 36 participants were divided into three equal groups: no working memory (WM) load, low WM load, and high WM load. Results from that experiment were surprising because prospective memory performance did not vary by type (event-based versus time-based) and WM load did not influence prospective performance. Experiment 2 required participants to do an errand-planning task and complete embedded time- and event-based prospective memory tasks. The 36 participants, who did not participate in Experiment 1, were also divided into three groups that varied by WM load: no WM load, low WM load, and high WM load. One interesting finding was prospective memory performance correlated with a measure of planning: the Tower of Hanoi task. These experiments, their findings, and general implications are discussed.