Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Interference and Decay

Interference and Decay

Forgetting is a complex cognitive phenomenon influenced by several factors, among which interference and decay are particularly prominent. These processes explain why individuals often struggle to retrieve specific information from memory, leading to lapses in recall that can be observed in everyday situations.
Interference occurs when competing memories hinder the retrieval of particular information. It can be classified into two types: proactive and retroactive interference. Proactive...

Cognitive Development During Adulthood

Cognitive Development During Adulthood

Cognitive development continues throughout adulthood, undergoing significant shifts across early, middle, and late stages. Individual transition occurs from adolescent idealism to pragmatic and adaptable thinking in early adulthood. During this period, individuals learn to integrate personal beliefs with the recognition that other perspectives are equally valid. Exposure to the complexities of modern society, diverse experiences, and higher education contribute to this adaptive thought process,...

Aging

Aging

Aging is a complex biological phenomenon influenced by various processes that affect cellular and systemic functions. Several prominent theories attempt to explain its mechanisms, highlighting cellular limitations, oxidative damage, and hormonal changes as central factors in aging.
Cellular Clock Theory
The cellular clock theory posits that the human lifespan is closely tied to the finite capacity of cells to divide, a phenomenon governed by telomeres, which are protective caps at the ends of...

Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory

Role of Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex in Memory

The cerebellum, while traditionally associated with motor control, also plays a crucial role in memory, particularly in procedural memory, which involves learning motor tasks that become automatic through repetition. For example, studies have shown that when the cerebellum is damaged, individuals or animals lose the ability to learn conditioned motor responses, such as the conditioned eye-blink response in classical conditioning experiments with rabbits. This study demonstrates the cerebellum's...

Forgetting

Forgetting

Forgetting is an intrinsic aspect of human memory, characterized by the gradual loss or inaccessibility of information over time. Hermann Ebbinghaus, a pioneering psychologist, extensively studied this phenomenon and formulated the forgetting curve. This curve illustrates that memory loss occurs rapidly immediately after learning and then decelerates over time. Several mechanisms contribute to forgetting, including encoding failure, storage decay, retrieval failure, and interference.
Encoding...

Working Memory

Working Memory

Working memory refers to a combination of components, including short-term memory and attention, that allow an individual to hold information temporarily as we perform cognitive tasks. It is an essential cognitive function that enables the execution of complex tasks such as problem-solving, comprehension, and reasoning. Unlike short-term memory, which simply involves the storage of information for a brief period, working memory involves the active manipulation and processing of this information.

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by

Same author

One-year longitudinal cohort study of chemosensory recovery and plasma biomarker dynamics in SARS-CoV-2 survivors.

Scientific reports·2026

Same author

Detecting age differences in prosociality using a newly developed picture-based measure.

Scientific reports·2026

Same author

Development and validation of a picture-based measure of prosociality.

Acta psychologica·2026

Same author

Effect of loneliness on social exclusion among older adults: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Acta psychologica·2026

Same author

Risk Prediction of Chronic Kidney Disease Progression in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Across Diverse Populations.

NPJ digital medicine·2026

Same author

Prospective and inhibitory intolerance of uncertainty, and certainty-seeking behaviours across adulthood in a Chinese sample.

Comprehensive psychiatry·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 18, 2026

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

Effects of aging, planning, and interruption on complex prospective memory.

David H K Shum¹, Allison Cahill, Lydia C Hohaus

¹Griffith Health Institute and School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt, Queensland, Australia. d.shum@griffith.edu.au

Neuropsychological Rehabilitation

|September 15, 2012

Summary

Planning improves prospective memory (PM) in older adults, even with interruptions. This study highlights strategies to enhance memory performance across age groups.

More Related Videos

An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing

An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing

Published on: October 25, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 18, 2026

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions

Published on: July 16, 2015

An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing

An Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Ageing on Sentence Processing

Published on: October 25, 2019

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Neuroscience
Human Aging Research

Background:

Prospective memory (PM) is crucial for daily functioning.
Aging impacts cognitive abilities, including PM.
Understanding factors affecting PM is vital for interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the effects of aging, planning, and interruption on complex prospective memory.
To examine how these factors interact to influence different types of PM tasks.
To identify strategies for enhancing prospective memory in older adults.

Main Methods:

A 2x2x2 between-subjects design with 160 participants (80 younger, 80 older adults).
Four experimental conditions: no interruption/no planning, interruption/no planning, planning/no interruption, interruption/planning.
Inclusion of time-, event-, and activity-based PM tasks within an ongoing task in a simulated home environment.

Main Results:

Younger adults outperformed older adults on time- and event-based PM.
Planning significantly improved performance across all PM types.
Interruptions negatively impacted time-based PM performance.
Planning notably enhanced older adults' time-based PM, equaling younger adults' performance.

Conclusions:

Aging, planning, and interruptions have distinct and interactive effects on prospective memory.
Strategic planning can effectively mitigate age-related declines in prospective memory.
Findings offer insights for developing interventions to support prospective memory in aging populations.