Influence of importance of intention on prospective memory performance

The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which the importance of the action to be performed affects its occurrence in a time-based prosp ective memory task. In the laboratory the effects of importance of intentio n were shown by Kvavilashvili in 1987 in an activity-based task, e.g., on a task which does not require the interruption of an on-going activity. 47 m en and 65 women, aged between 20 and 25 years, participated in an experimen t in which the importance varied (high vs low). The prospective memory task was embedded in a principal task lasting about 15 min, and required subjec ts to perform an action at a given time (after 5 min.). The prospective mem ory task required the interruption of the on-going activity. Analysis indic ated that importance affected the performance on the time-based prospective memory task. Further implications were discussed.