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Psychophysiology of prospective memory

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 22; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09658211.2013.847106

1464-0686

Nicolas Rothen, Beat Meier,

EEG and Brain-Computer Interfaces

AbstractProspective memory involves the self-initiated retrieval of an intention upon an appropriate retrieval cue. Cue identification can be considered as an orienting reaction and may thus trigger a psychophysiological response. Here we present two experiments in which skin conductance responses (SCRs) elicited by prospective memory cues were compared to SCRs elicited by aversive stimuli to test whether a single prospective memory cue triggers a similar SCR as an aversive stimulus. In Experiment 2 we also assessed whether cue specificity had a differential influence on prospective memory performance and on SCRs. We found that detecting a single prospective memory cue is as likely to elicit a SCR as an aversive stimulus. Missed prospective memory cues also elicited SCRs. On a behavioural level, specific intentions led to better prospective memory performance. However, on a psychophysiological level specificity had no influence. More generally, the results indicate reliable SCRs for prospective memory cues and point to psychophysiological measures as valuable approach, which offers a new way to study one-off prospective memory tasks. Moreover, the findings are consistent with a theory that posits multiple prospective memory retrieval stages.Keywords: Prospective memoryArousalPsychophysiologyElectrodermal activity This work has been partly supported by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Holcim Foundation for the Advancement of Scientific Research, Switzerland to N. Rothen. We thank Josephine Cock for helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.This work has been partly supported by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Holcim Foundation for the Advancement of Scientific Research, Switzerland to N. Rothen. We thank Josephine Cock for helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.Notes1 We also conducted the analysis with the full dataset. That is, with the behavioural data of all 86 participants. Notably, the pattern of significance remained the same as for the 70 participants whose SCR data were available.