The probability of the prospective memory cue presentation modulates the prospective interference effect: Behavioral and ERP studies

• Main Authors: Wan-yu Shih, 施琬諭
• Other Authors: Shih-kuen Cheng
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/13638978018888078360

碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 認知與神經科學研究所 === 102 === The prospective interference effect refers to the performance decline of the ongoing activities due to a delayed intention to be implemented in the prospective memory tasks. It is generally thought to reflect the recruitment of attentional resource for preparing the retrieval of the delayed intention while engaging in the ongoing activities simultaneously. This thesis investigated how the prospective interference effect is modulated by the probability of the prospective memory (PM) cue presentation using prospective memory encoding/retrieval paradigm. Furthermore, the neural correlates of the prospective interference effect were investigated using event-related potential (ERP) measures. The behavioral results revealed that the prospective interference effect was higher in the low-probability condition than in the high-probability one, which indicated that the participants recruited more attentional resource for preparatory attentional processes when the probability of the PM cue presentation was low. The ERP results in Experiment 3 found that two ERP components, the PM sustained positivity and the late positivity complex (LPC), were associated with the preparatory processes for prospective remembering. The PM sustained positivity arose in the ongoing activity trials whenever a delayed intention was added, and its amplitude was not modulated by the probability of the PM cue presentation. On the other hand, the amplitude of the LPC was larger when there was an intention to be performed, and was larger in the low-probability condition. These results indicated that the processes underlying the prospective interference effect refer to the prospective monitoring. The current findings suggested that the probability of the PM cue presentation influences the prospective interference effect by modulating the magnitude of the attentional resource engaged in prospective monitoring. When the probability of the PM cue presentation was low, more attentional resource were employing on monitoring the environment for the PM cue, leading higher prospective interference effect.