Memory for the future

Maria A. BrandimonteIUSOB, Naples, Italy

“With one singular exception, time’s arrow is straight. Unidirectionality of time is one of the most fundamental laws. It has relentlessly governed all happenings in the universe - cosmic, geological,

physical, biological, psychological -…galaxies and stars are born and they die, living creatures are

young before they grow old, causes always precede effects, there is no return to yesterday…Time’s flow

is irreversible” (Tulving, 2002, 1).

Mental time travel

The arrow of time in human memory

Memory for the past Memory for the present Memory for the future

The psychological consequences of time perspective: Temporal construal

Temporal distance

Past events Future events

Near-PastDistant-Past Distant-FutureNear-FutureT0

Retrospective memory Prospective memory

The concept of ”intention”

Readiness to act in a specific way Readiness to act in a specific way

in the futurein the future Freud (1901) Freud (1901)

Lewin (1926)Lewin (1926)

Birenbaum (1930) Birenbaum (1930)

Drew (1940) Drew (1940)

Miller, Galanter, and Pribram(1960) Miller, Galanter, and Pribram(1960)

Loftus (1971) Loftus (1971)

Meacham and Leiman (1976) Meacham and Leiman (1976)

Harris (1984) Harris (1984)

Einstein and McDaniel (1990) Einstein and McDaniel (1990)

Brandimonte, Einstein, and McDaniel (1996)Brandimonte, Einstein, and McDaniel (1996)

Prospective memory

Remembering to perform a planned action at some point in the future

(realization of delayed intentions)

Intentions-in-action Prior Intentions

◊ Humans perform actions to reach goals

◊ Social value of a reliable PM

◊ PM failures are among the most common causes of human error (e.g., work accidents)

Relevance of prospective memory for everyday life

◊ Action slips = failures during the execution of an intended action

◊ Loss of contents = RM failure

◊ Place-losing errors = omissions or repetitions of a particular action in the sequence

”Non-prospective-memory” failures(absent-minded errors)

A typical prospective memory failure

Defining features of a prospective memory task

◊ Other activities intervene between the time the intention is formed and the time at which the action has to be performed

◊ We must frequently interrupt an on-going task to perform the planned action (dual task)

Event-based Time-based

Types of PM tasks

General phases of a PM taskGeneral phases of a PM task

_ 1. Formation and encoding of intention1. Formation and encoding of intention_ 22. Retention intervalRetention interval_ 3. Performance interval3. Performance interval_ 4. Initiation and execution of intended 4. Initiation and execution of intended

actionaction_ 5. Evaluation of outcome (output 5. Evaluation of outcome (output

monitoring)monitoring)

Temporal construal of intentional actions

Distant-Future

Tn

Near-Future

T1

T0 T2 T3...

Recoding of intention, updating, resource demanding, high-level construals

Time monitoring

Moderate resource demands,possibly no recoding, low level

construals

◊ Medication adherenceMedication adherence

◊ Treatment of memory-impaired patientsTreatment of memory-impaired patients

◊ E-mail communicationE-mail communication

ApplicationsApplications

◊ NeuroPage (1994)NeuroPage (1994)

◊ Mobile phones (2000)Mobile phones (2000)

◊ Voice organizer (2001)Voice organizer (2001)

◊ Pocket-computer memory aids (2001)Pocket-computer memory aids (2001)

◊ MEMOS (200MEMOS (20055))

External memory aidsExternal memory aids

MEMOS: An interactive memory aid MEMOS: An interactive memory aid system for brain-injured patientssystem for brain-injured patients

PROSPECTIVE MEMORY:

MORE THAN “MEMORY”

◊ Attention

◊ Motivation/Emotion

◊ Motor processes

◊ Metaknowledge

Thank you for your attentionThank you for your attention