Don't forget to remember: motivation and environmental cues affect prospective memory performance

Prospective memory (PM) refers to remembering to fulfill previously formed intentions. While some intentions are self-interested, others are prosocial, and both are influenced by motivational forces. This study examined these relationships using a monetary incentive to moderate motivation, and explored how metacognition was affected. College students (N = 75) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (i.e., prosocial, self-interested, or standard). Eye-tracking technology collected gaze data using a visual search task that incorporated a PM intention. Motivational orientation did not differentially influence PM performance. Metacognitive analyses indicated that while participants in the prosocial and standard conditions were underconfident, those in the self-interested condition accurately predicted their performance. Participants in the self-interested and standard conditions exhibited poor metacognitive awareness while those in the prosocial condition were accurate in gauging how well they actually did. These findings suggest that motivational states and incentives moderate metacognitive accuracy for PM intentions.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Author dc:creator

• Hacker, Jessica

Contributors dc:contributor

• Shelton, Jill
• Ross, David F.; Rendell, Peter
• College of Arts and Sciences

• Prospective memory

Licence

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

Language dc:language

English, eng

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/551

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1706