Our memory in everyday life
Memory in everyday life is:
● A form of purposeful action
● A personal quality
● Influenced by situational demands
Prospective memory: a type of memory that lets us remember and carry out tasks that we
have planned for the future. An example of prospective memory is, 'when I get home I need to
make dinner, revise for my exam next week, and walk my dog.'
Introspection: personal but limited in terms of scope and accuracy
Meta-memory: a person's awareness how their memory works and its capabilities
Naturalistic experiments: give participants meaningful things to remember, retains experimental
control, natural things to remember
Prospective memory failure: tends to occur after a change in usual routine
A true example: ‘After a change in his usual routine, an adoring father forgot to turn toward the
daycare centre and instead drove his usual route to work at the university. Several hours later,
his infant son, who had been quietly asleep in the back seat, was dead.’ (Einstein & McDaniel,
2005, p.286)
Stages in prospective memory (Zogg et al., 2012)
1. Intention formation: when you form an intention linked to a specific cue (e.g., I will water
the plants when I get home)
2. Retention interval: there is a delay between when you form the intention and when you
carry out the task of a few minutes or weeks. During this time, you monitor the
environment for relevant cues (e.g., arriving home)
3. Cue detection and intention retrieval
4. Intention recall: the intention is retrieved from retrospective memory. At this stage may
have problems recalling.
5. Intention execution
Prospective memory relies a lot on retrospective memory
Marsh et al. (1998): forgetting is more common for plans involving intention to communicate
rather than appointments. This is possibly because appointments can rely more on external
cues.
Memory in everyday life is:
● A form of purposeful action
● A personal quality
● Influenced by situational demands
Prospective memory: a type of memory that lets us remember and carry out tasks that we
have planned for the future. An example of prospective memory is, 'when I get home I need to
make dinner, revise for my exam next week, and walk my dog.'
Introspection: personal but limited in terms of scope and accuracy
Meta-memory: a person's awareness how their memory works and its capabilities
Naturalistic experiments: give participants meaningful things to remember, retains experimental
control, natural things to remember
Prospective memory failure: tends to occur after a change in usual routine
A true example: ‘After a change in his usual routine, an adoring father forgot to turn toward the
daycare centre and instead drove his usual route to work at the university. Several hours later,
his infant son, who had been quietly asleep in the back seat, was dead.’ (Einstein & McDaniel,
2005, p.286)
Stages in prospective memory (Zogg et al., 2012)
1. Intention formation: when you form an intention linked to a specific cue (e.g., I will water
the plants when I get home)
2. Retention interval: there is a delay between when you form the intention and when you
carry out the task of a few minutes or weeks. During this time, you monitor the
environment for relevant cues (e.g., arriving home)
3. Cue detection and intention retrieval
4. Intention recall: the intention is retrieved from retrospective memory. At this stage may
have problems recalling.
5. Intention execution
Prospective memory relies a lot on retrospective memory
Marsh et al. (1998): forgetting is more common for plans involving intention to communicate
rather than appointments. This is possibly because appointments can rely more on external
cues.
