Psychology Department, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE, USA.
Psychology Department, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA.
Memory. 2023 May;31(5):665-677. doi: 10.1080/09658211.2023.2187335. Epub 2023 Mar 22.
Prospective memory (PM) - memory for future intentions - has a core term called focality which describes how closely a PM task relates to an ongoing task. When a close relationship exists between an ongoing and PM task, the task is classified as focal (loose relationships are classified as nonfocal). Competing PM theories differ primarily in explanations for how focality changes participants' approaches. Researchers classify PM intentions as focal or nonfocal in two ways: (1) task appropriateness, congruency (TAP) or incongruency (TIP) of processing to complete both tasks, and (2) cue specificity, specific or general task cues. Independently manipulating this ambiguity in defining "focality" was our current focus. Participants were randomly assigned to a control group, a focal PM condition, or one of three nonfocal conditions. Their ongoing task involved a semantic judgment (Experiment 1) or an orthographic judgment (Experiment 2). Cue specificity impacted PM accuracy consistently, favouring specific cues. Task-appropriateness impacted PM accuracy in Experiment 1, but not in Experiment 2 which showed protective effects for specific, whole-word PM cues - emphasizing the role that deeper processing has on PM success. These studies highlight the ambiguity in the operational definition of focality and provide the groundwork for continued refinement of the definition.
前瞻性记忆（PM）——对未来意图的记忆——有一个核心术语叫做焦点性，它描述了 PM 任务与正在进行的任务之间的密切程度。当正在进行的任务和 PM 任务之间存在密切关系时，任务被归类为焦点任务（松散的关系被归类为非焦点任务）。竞争的 PM 理论主要在解释焦点性如何改变参与者的方法方面存在差异。研究人员通过两种方式将 PM 意图归类为焦点或非焦点：（1）处理以完成两项任务的任务适宜性、一致性（TAP）或不一致性（TIP），以及（2）线索特异性、特定或一般任务线索。我们当前的重点是独立操纵这种定义“焦点性”的歧义。参与者被随机分配到对照组、焦点 PM 条件或三个非焦点条件之一。他们的正在进行的任务涉及语义判断（实验 1）或正字法判断（实验 2）。线索特异性一致地影响 PM 准确性，有利于特定线索。任务适宜性在实验 1 中影响 PM 准确性，但在实验 2 中没有影响，实验 2 显示特定的、整词 PM 线索具有保护作用——强调了更深层次的处理对 PM 成功的作用。这些研究突出了焦点性操作定义的歧义性，并为进一步完善定义奠定了基础。
