Talk:Prospective memory

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[edit] Prospective memory

I edited the intro paragraph a bit. As a first-time reader it was a bit confusing but after reading other sources I was able to make sense of it so I tried to reflect the basic concept as to engage a reader in a more clear way. Jsarmi 15:47, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Any comments on adding the following to discussion of prospective memory?

Event-based prospective memory can be exploited using deliberate acts that will produce a notable event at the time that the memory needs to be recalled such as setting an alarm or placing a shoe in the sink to remind you to take the trash out in the morning. Prospective memory can be enhanced by ordinary acts such as making a grocery list or a to-do list. 4.232.0.196 18:56, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

What you're suggesting is correct. That a time-based prospective intention can effectively be turned into an event-based intention by explicitly creating a reminder cue. There is a literature on this sort of thing, often talking about it as 'strategies', I think. Interestingly, (I don't have a reference in front of me) older people perform worse on ProM task than younger people in lab settings. However, in naturalistic settings, there is usually no difference, in fact older adults at times perform better and some have argued that this is due to the use of such strategies (which are not available in a computer-based lab task).--Limegreen 22:10, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Any interest in having a seperate page on age related changes in prospective memory??

[edit] Possible Outline

Here's a simple outline structure with my initial thoughts on content. I intend to re-use as much as I can, of course, just slotting it in where I can. Lede - to be mostly lay-oriented, starting with as good an ordianry-language definition as we can find plus Winograd, suggesting the issues and complications with the lay definition.

  • Competing Definitions and Recency of Interest
  • Leading Theories
  • Potential and Actual Applications

I would like to hook up not just to Aging, but also time management implications, if any. DCDuring 00:51, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Part of the lede was changed here [1] to a version that makes less sense. I think also the reference to external stimuli you mention here [2] is partly made less clear by the other edit, but there is a distinction between external initiation and an external cue. The cue is something you detect, as opposed to something that directly and explicitly prompts retrieval (like being asked What did you do yesterday?). This is especially true where the cue stimulus wasn't explicitly assigned that. So a post-it obviously serves as a reminder cue, and was probably made explicitly, but if you see a wikipedia article on food, which reminds you that you have to order a cake for a friend's birthday, there was no prior intention that the article was a cue. I'm not sure that that's explained perfectly well, but that's sort of the point of the distinction.--Limegreen 02:00, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

That would even make sense to a layman - with a little patience. It must make sense to an experimental psychologist or a social psychologist. It probably makes less sense to a philosopher or a neuroscientist. I suppose everyone, except the layman, thinks that using external memory aids (or loci ?) is cheating. DCDuring 02:14, 12 September 2007 (UTC)