Date of Award
1-1-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D. in Psychology
First Advisor
Rebekah E. Smith
Second Advisor
Paul D. Loprinzi
Third Advisor
Stephanie E. Miller
Relational Format
dissertation/thesis
Abstract
Prospective memory (PM) refers to memory for future-based intentions. Previous research has explored how contextual information can support PM performance by lowering the cost to the ongoing task. For example, a study by Smith et al. (2017) demonstrated that knowing the contextual information of proximity to PM targets can affect attentional resource allocation. This was seen empirically as faster reaction times (RTs) when participants knew they were far from the target location, but longer RTs as participants knew they were approaching a target location. However, Vogel and Smith (in prep) found discrepancies in this pattern. This current study investigated these differences, focusing on the impact of requiring a secondary task of typing errands, as in Smith et al. (2017), to explain performance variations. We examined these PM task complexities using a control group and two PM groups: one-response (press "P" at 4 specific trials) and two-response (press "P" at 4 specific trials and complete 4 errands). While the results did not entirely conform to predictions, support for the dual-response hypothesis was found as the two-response condition exhibited significantly longer RTs compared to the control and one-response conditions for true statements. Moreover, the two-response condition showed significantly longer RTs for false sentences compared to the control condition, whereas the one-response condition did not differ significantly from the control condition. These findings underscore the increased cognitive demands of dual-response PM tasks relative to single-response tasks.
Recommended Citation
Vogel, Anne Elizabeth, "Single Versus Dual Response Demands in An Event-Based Prospective Memory Task with Context" (2024). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2893.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/2893