Ma Zhanyu, Zhang Xinyuan
School of Psychology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China.
Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Brain Development, Changchun 130024, China.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2024 Dec 6;14(12):1171. doi: 10.3390/bs14121171.
Previous research has demonstrated that episodic future thinking (EFT) can enhance prospective memory (PM); however, its effects on older adults have been less explored. This study examines the impact of EFT training on PM in both older and younger adults under varying delay intervals. Experiment 1 employed a 2 (EFT training: present vs. absent) × 2 (age: younger adults vs. older adults) × 2 (delay interval: 5 min vs. 20 min) between-subjects design. The results revealed a significant main effect of EFT training ( < 0.001), indicating that such training improves PM performance. Among younger adults, a significant difference in PM performance was found between the trained and untrained groups ( = 0.03), while among older adults, this difference was only marginally significant. This suggests that the facilitative effect of EFT training is more pronounced in younger adults. Additionally, there was a significant main effect of delay interval ( = 0.01), with shorter intervals yielding better PM performance than longer intervals. Experiment 2 focused on the impact of specificity in EFT training on PM in both age groups. A 2 (training: specific vs. non-specific) × 2 (age: younger vs. older adults) × 2 (delay interval: 5 min vs. 20 min) between-subjects design was used. Results indicated that older adults in the specific training group outperformed those in the non-specific training group ( = 0.03), whereas no difference was observed among younger adults. This finding suggests that specific training is more effective for enhancing prospective memory in older adults. Moreover, older adults exhibited differences based on the delay interval, with a 20 min interval impairing performance ( = 0.04), while younger adults showed no difference between the two intervals. These findings will be discussed in relation to the Multiprocess Model and the Preparatory Attention and Memory Processes Theory.
先前的研究表明，情景式未来思维（EFT）能够增强前瞻记忆（PM）；然而，其对老年人的影响鲜有研究。本研究考察了EFT训练在不同延迟间隔下对老年人和年轻人前瞻记忆的影响。实验1采用了2（EFT训练：有 vs. 无）×2（年龄：年轻人 vs. 老年人）×2（延迟间隔：5分钟 vs. 20分钟）的组间设计。结果显示EFT训练有显著的主效应（<0.001），表明这种训练能提高前瞻记忆表现。在年轻人中，训练组和未训练组在前瞻记忆表现上存在显著差异（=0.03），而在老年人中，这种差异仅略微显著。这表明EFT训练的促进作用在年轻人中更为明显。此外，延迟间隔有显著的主效应（=0.01），较短的间隔产生的前瞻记忆表现优于较长的间隔。实验2聚焦于EFT训练的特异性对两个年龄组前瞻记忆的影响。采用了2（训练：特定 vs. 非特定）×2（年龄：年轻人 vs. 老年人）×2（延迟间隔：5分钟 vs. 20分钟）的组间设计。结果表明，特定训练组中的老年人表现优于非特定训练组中的老年人（=0.03），而在年轻人中未观察到差异。这一发现表明特定训练对增强老年人的前瞻记忆更有效。此外，老年人根据延迟间隔表现出差异，20分钟的间隔会损害表现（=0.04），而年轻人在两个间隔之间没有差异。将结合多进程模型和预备性注意与记忆过程理论对这些发现进行讨论。
