Honors Theses

Date of Award

Spring 5-10-2023

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Stephanie Miller

Second Advisor

Rebekah Smith

Third Advisor

John Young

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

Given the significance of prospective memory (PM) throughout an individual’s lifespan, PM has gained great momentum as a topic of research. Surprisingly, less studies have examined PM in children than adults despite the fact that cognitive abilities are developing during this time. Performance in event-based PM tasks has been shown to be poor in preschoolers and particularly weak in 3-year-olds. Previous studies of event-based PM tasks have included manipulations such as cues and incentives to aid in performance. In this study, I examined another potential manipulation to aid in PM performance not previously examined in literature: training. To assess whether training would influence performance in an event-based PM task, 3-year-olds were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions (e.g., standard, rule repeat, or task match) varying in the amount of training they received. Results revealed that children in the condition with the highest amount of training (i.e., task match condition) benefitted significantly in PM performance compared to the standard condition with base level training, lending support to the theory that the addition of training aids in strengthening children’s representation and performance of the PM task.

Accessibility Status

Searchable text

Included in

Psychology Commons

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