Beyond prospective memory retrieval: Encoding and remembering of intentions across the lifespan

Publication date: Available online 14 November 2019Source: International Journal of PsychophysiologyAuthor(s): Alexandra Hering, Nele Wild-Wall, Michael Falkenstein, Patrick D. Gajewski, Katharina Zinke, Mareike Altgassen, Matthias KliegelAbstractCombining behavioral and electrophysiological measures, we investigated the role of memory processes for prospective memory development in three different age groups over the lifespan. We focused on age differences during intention encoding, retention and retrieval in order to assess if potential age-associated performance differences in adolescence and older age can be explained by associated neurophysiological differences. Our research aim was to understand the impact of memory-related factors such as intention load and encoding time on prospective remembering, focusing especially on encoding and retention, which are two so far scarcely investigated phases. Adolescents, younger and older adults worked on a semantic judgment task with an embedded prospective memory task. Participants had to encode either one or two intentions; the encoding time was either four or eight seconds long. Younger and older adults outperformed adolescents behaviorally. Furthermore, performance was better for remembering one intention compared to remembering two intentions. On the neural level, we found age-specific modulations for the fronto-polar slow wave (FPSW) and the temporal-parietal slow wave (TPSW) that were sensitive to the number of intentions. A...

Source: International Journal of Psychophysiology - November 14, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research