Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Task interference from event-based intentions can be material specific.

Richard L Marsh1, Gabriel I Cook, Jason L Hicks

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-3013, USA. rlmarsh@uga.edu

Memory & Cognition
|May 11, 2007
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Increasing intramuscular fluid volume increases passive tension in mammalian skeletal muscle.

Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985)·2026
Same author

A critical orientation on muscle marker placement: Multiple angles to consider.

Journal of biomechanics·2025
Same author

A thorough examination of cue specificity and task-appropriateness in defining focal and nonfocal prospective memory tasks.

Memory (Hove, England)·2023
Same author

Thermal Stability of Contractile Proteins in Bat Wing Muscles Explains Differences in Temperature Dependence of Whole-Muscle Shortening Velocity.

Physiological and biochemical zoology : PBZ·2023
Same author

Muscle preactivation and the limits of muscle power output during jumping in the Cuban tree frog Osteopilus septentrionalis.

The Journal of experimental biology·2022
Same author

A comparison of thermal sensitivities of wing muscle contractile properties from a temperate and tropical bat species.

The Journal of experimental biology·2022
Same journal

The properties of personal semantics.

Memory & cognition·2026
Same journal

Music enhances associative generalization: Evidence from a memory integration task.

Memory & cognition·2026
Same journal

Video, text, and memory: An emotional verbal overshadowing effect.

Memory & cognition·2026
Same journal

Limited protective effects of multilingualism against age-related cognitive decline.

Memory & cognition·2026
Same journal

Validation of illustrated texts: Can pictures raise awareness of inconsistencies?

Memory & cognition·2026
Same journal

4I remember (and forget) your happy smiling face: Directed forgetting of emotionally expressive faces of in-group and out-group members.

Memory & cognition·2026
See all related articles

Task interference in prospective memory can be reduced by predicting irrelevant stimuli. This suggests flexible attentional strategies, not a fixed interference effect, influence performance.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Human Memory Research

Background:

  • Task interference in prospective memory tasks negatively impacts ongoing activity performance, often shown by slower reaction times.
  • Previous research indicates that prospective memory performance is influenced by associating intentions with specific performance contexts.
  • Understanding the mechanisms of task interference is crucial for cognitive models of memory and attention.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether associating intentions with specific stimulus classes (e.g., pictures, words) affects task interference.
  • To determine if predictable irrelevance of stimuli can reduce task interference on a trial-by-trial basis.
  • To explore the dynamic nature of attentional allocation in prospective memory tasks.

Main Methods:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Two experiments used a random sequence of two material types (e.g., pictures, words) with intentions linked to one material class.
  • A third experiment employed a blocking manipulation to control stimulus presentation order.
  • Participants' ongoing task performance (latency) was measured to assess interference.

Main Results:

  • Task interference was significantly reduced when participants could predict that upcoming stimuli were irrelevant to their intention.
  • This material-specific interference effect was observed on a trial-by-trial basis in random sequences and with blocked stimuli.
  • Evidence suggests interference is not a fixed construct but depends on dynamic attentional allocation.

Conclusions:

  • Task interference in prospective memory is malleable and influenced by stimulus predictability.
  • Participants employ flexible attentional strategies, adjusting allocation based on the likelihood of encountering relevant or irrelevant information.
  • These findings challenge the view of task interference as monolithic, highlighting dynamic attentional control.