Adaptive cognitive control in prospective memory

Event-based prospective memory (PM) requires performing a planned action upon encountering a target event. The PM decision control (PMDC) model quantifies the dual mechanisms of cognitive control (proactive and reactive; Braver, 2012) that support PM. Here, we test a key prediction of the dual-mechanisms theory: that cognitive control will shift from proactive to reactive as the need for control lessens due to PM targets being infrequent. Participants made lexical decisions (ongoing task) and were presented blocks of trials, which either contained no PM targets, a low frequency (5%), or high (19%) frequency of PM target trials. We fit a version of PMDC augmented to specify the ongoing-task practice and PM learning dynamics required to account for the way in which participants adapted their behavior as a function of task practice and expected PM target frequency. PM costs (ongoing-task response slowing in PM conditions relative to no-PM-target condition) were observed only in the high-frequency condition, which was explained by an increase in proactive control in PMDC. PM accuracy was similar across high- and low-frequency conditions early in the experiment, but later an advantage emerged for lower frequency PM. PMDC indicated similar initial reactive control across conditions, with reactive control increasing over repeated target exposures in both conditions but more strongly in the low-frequency condition. Our results confirm the prediction that control shifts from proactive to reactive with lower target event frequency, responding to recent calls from the PM literature to account for across-trial dynamics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).