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ERIC Number: EJ1338847
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-May
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0012-1649
EISSN: N/A
Effects of Incidental Reminders on Prospective Memory in Children
Ryder, Nuala; Kvavilashvili, Lia; Ford, Ruth
Developmental Psychology, v58 n5 p890-901 May 2022
Prospective memory (PM) involves remembering to carry out intended actions in the future (e.g., posting a letter on the way to school or passing on a message) and is important for children's independent functioning in daily life. This study examined, for the first time, the effects of incidental reminder cues on children's PM. Five- and 7-year-old children (n = 160, 50% female, predominantly White from lower-middle- to middle-class families) had to remember to put cards with a picture of a dog into a box (placed behind the child) every time they finished working on an activity book with a line drawing on each page (activity-based PM task). Additionally, the picture presented on the last page of each activity book was manipulated to examine the role of incidental reminders on PM. Results showed that 7-year-old children significantly outperformed 5-year-olds on the PM task despite age equivalence of performance on the ongoing visual search task. For both age groups, an incidental reminder (a line drawing of a dog) that was similar to the target of the PM task (a card with a color picture of a dog) significantly improved PM compared to the no-reminder condition (a line drawing of a flower), while reminders related to the PM action (a line drawing of a box) or semantically related to the target of the PM task (a line drawing of a cat) were not effective. These findings have important practical and theoretical implications and open up interesting avenues for future research.
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A