The Survival Advantages Effect On Prospective Memory

Evolutionary psychology advocates the functional orientation of memory research,arguing that a fuller understanding of the mechanisms and characteristics of memory can only be achieved by understanding the functions of memory at first.The memory survival advantage effect,which has been studied in this context,refers to the phenomenon that individuals’ memory systems have evolved to memory better information related to or in survival situations,and the stability and effectiveness of this effect has been confirmed by numerous studies in the field of retrospective memory.Prospective memory is futureoriented,which refers to the ability to carry out a prior intention at an appropriate time in the future.Current researches in this area have focused on the processing mechanisms and influences of prospective memory,as well as the performance of specific groups,but little consideration has been given to the functional aspects of prospective memory.Therefore,this study is the first functional exploration of prospective memory through three experiments that creatively combine classical research paradigms from both fields and strictly controls the word frequency of items and their relevance to survival contexts,in a preliminary investigation of whether there is also a memory survival advantage effect for prospective memory.Experiment 1 is a preliminary exploration of the prospective memory survival advantage effect,using a mixed experimental design of 2(coding condition:survival/pleasantness)× 3(degree of survival relevance: high/mid/low),in which the coding condition as between-subject variable.Although the results did not confirm the existence of the survival advantage effect of prospective memory,it has been suggested this result may be related to the experimental material and the task setting with analysis.Accordingly,Experiment 2 re-selected the experimental material and introduced the variable of cognitive load,aiming to investigate the effect of cognitive load on the survival advantage effect of prospective memory,It used a mixed experimental design of 2(coding condition: survival/pleasantness)×3(degree of survival relevance: high/mid/low)x 2(cognitive load: low/ high),where the coding condition was a between-subjects variable.Ultimately,the significant survival advantage effect of prospective memory was observed in cognitive load conditions,with better performance in the survival processing than in the pleasure scoring.Experiment 3 focused on the effect of survival processing on prospective memory and its two components,and therefore it used the same experimental design based on Experiment 2 and followed Meier and Zimmermann(2015)experimental separation method to separate the two components of prospective memory,resulting in not only replicating the findings of Experiment 2 but also finding a significant survival advantage effect on the prospective component,However,the result of a borderline significant survival advantage for the retrospective component may be related to the simpler task and weaker relationship with survival for the retrospective component in this study,which could be further explored in future studies.In summary,the results of 3 experiments showed that:1)Prospective memory has a survival advantage effect;2)Manipulation of cognitive load during the extraction phase doesn’t affect the survival advantage effect of prospective memory;3)The survival advantage effect of prospective memory may be mainly reflected to the prospective component.4)The survival value of the project itself plays only a partial role,and there is a tendency for individuals to automate the processing of the extraction o concerning to highly survival-relevant target cues;5)Survival processing is more effective in improving prospective memory performance under high cognitive load conditions than pleasurable ratings,and survival processing can play a positive role by consuming fewer cognitive resources.