Implementation Intention and Reminder Effects on Behavior Change in a Mobile Health System: A Predictive Cognitive...

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Behavioral Science
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Implementation intentions are mental plans that enhance goal achievement.
• Human associative memory mechanisms are key to how implementation intentions work.
• Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational (ACT-R) theory provides a framework for understanding these effects.

Purpose of the Study:

• To manipulate implementation intention effects on daily goal success using mHealth reminders.
• To test predictions derived from ACT-R theory regarding reminder scheduling.
• To explore how reminder frequency and distribution impact behavioral goal achievement.

Main Methods:

• A 28-day mHealth study with 64 participants setting healthy behavior goals.
• Participants chose between eating slowly, walking, or eating more vegetables.
• Stratified by self-efficacy, participants were assigned to reminder conditions (present/absent) with varied frequency (high/low) and distribution (distributed/massed).

Main Results:

• Reminders significantly improved daily behavioral goal achievement (OR=7.52, P<.001).
• Reminder frequency and distribution interacted to influence goal success, as predicted by ACT-R (P<.001).
• Time since acknowledging a reminder was highly significant in predicting goal success (P<.001).

Conclusions:

• Computational cognitive theory, like ACT-R, enables precise predictions for health behavior interventions.
• mHealth app reminder scheduling can be optimized based on ACT-R principles.
• Understanding memory mechanisms is crucial for designing effective behavioral interventions.