Implementation Intentions and Facilitation of Prospective Memory

Forming detailed implementation intentions for a future behavior can increase the probability that the behavior is actually completed. We investigated whether this intention effect could be used to improve prospective memory in older adults. As expected, participants who formed an implementation int...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological science 2001-11, Vol.12 (6), p.457-461
Main Authors: Chasteen, Alison L., Park, Denise C., Schwarz, Norbert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged - psychology
Attention
Behavior
Cues
Dow Jones Industrial Average
Experimentation
Female
Humans
Implementation
Male
Memory
Mental Recall
Motivation
Older adults
Older people
Pattern Recognition, Visual
Practice (Psychology)
Probability
Prospective memory
Rehearsal
Research fellowships
Retention (Psychology)
Saliency
Verbal Learning
Working conditions
Working memory
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Summary:Forming detailed implementation intentions for a future behavior can increase the probability that the behavior is actually completed. We investigated whether this intention effect could be used to improve prospective memory in older adults. As expected, participants who formed an implementation intention were more than twice as likely to self-initiate the intended behavior (writing down the day of the week on every sheet of paper received during the experiment) compared with participants who either were merely instructed to do so or actively rehearsed the instruction. Forming an implementation intention, however, did not improve performance on a task that required a response to salient cues. We conclude that detailed implementation intentions facilitate prospective memory on tasks that lack salient cues and require self-initiation.
ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
DOI:10.1111/1467-9280.00385