Transfer appropriate processing for prospective memory tests

Transfer appropriate processing (TAP) is the assumption that retrospective memory test performance reflects the overlap between study and test phase processing. In a task analysis, we identify a similar sequential-type of processing overlap in prospective memory (ProM) situations. In addition, ProM test performance can also involve a concurrent overlap between processes engaged for an ongoing task and those required for recognizing relevant cues. A review of the ProM literature shows consistent TAP effects due to sequential processing overlap manipulations, but inconclusive findings for concurrent processing overlap manipulations. We examined the latter in a new experiment with young adult participants. The ongoing task required either semantic or perceptual processing of words, and the ProM task required either semantic or perceptual processing of words. Consistent with TAP, performance was higher when the ongoing task and the ProM task required the same kind of processing (i.e. semantic–semantic, perceptual–perceptual) rather than different kinds of processing (i.e. semantic–perceptual, perceptual–semantic). Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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