| Prospective memory involves the performance of a delayed intention, and is often described as memory to perform an action in the absence of reminders, in the future (McDaniel & Einstein, 2000). Because prospective memory involves delaying an intention and remembering to perform it later (e.g., remembering to buy milk on the way home from work), prospective memory may be improved by implementation intentions. Implementation intentions are condition-action statements (e.g., "When I am in X situation, I will perform Y behavior!") that have been shown to improve goal-directed behavior (e.g., Gollwitzer & Brandstatter, 1997), relative to simple goal intentions (e.g., "I plan to achieve goal Z!"). In spite of research suggesting that implementation intentions can improve PM performance in older adults, little work has been done to examine implementation intentions (and their necessary features) and PM in young adults. Gollwitzer (1999) suggested that implementation intentions may automatize performance of the desired behavior. The present study compared the effectiveness of different implementation intentions in a PM paradigm, using a cost-sensitive ongoing task, for focal and non-focal PM tasks. PM performance and cost were also examined with respect to the five factors of the NEO-FFI (Costa & McCrae, 1989). |
