Isolating the effects of visual imagery on prospective memory

Abel, Joseph W.; Anderson, Rachel J.; Dean, Graham M.; Dewhurst, Stephen A.

Abstract

Two experiments investigated the role of visual imagery in prospective memory (PM). In experiment 1, 140 participants completed a general knowledge quiz which included a PM task of writing a letter “X” next to any questions that referred to space. Participants either visualised themselves performing this task, verbalised an implementation intention about the task, did both, or did neither. Performance on the PM task was enhanced in both conditions involving visual imagery but not by implementation intentions alone. In experiment 2, 120 participants imagined themselves writing a letter “X” next to questions about space, or in a bizarre imagery condition imagined themselves drawing an alien next to those questions. Relative to the control condition, PM was significantly enhanced when participants imagined writing a letter “X” next to the target questions, but not by the bizarre imagery task. The findings indicate that the robust effects of imagery observed in retrospective memory also extend to PM.

Citation

Abel, J. W., Anderson, R. J., Dean, G. M., & Dewhurst, S. A. (2024). Isolating the effects of visual imagery on prospective memory. Memory, https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2024.2335302

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 19, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Mar 28, 2024
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2024
• Deposit Date: Apr 11, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 12, 2024
• Journal: Memory
• Print ISSN: 0965-8211
• Electronic ISSN: 1464-0686
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2024.2335302
• Keywords: Prospective memory; Visual imagery; Implementation intentions; Bizarre imagery
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4623192