EFFECT OF AGE ON EVENT-BASED AND TIME-BASED PROSPECTIVE MEMORY

The magnitude of age differences on event- and time-based prospective memory tasks was investigated in 2 experiments. Participants performed a working memory task and were also required to perform either an eve nt- or time-based prospective action. Control participants performed e ither the working memory task only or the prospective memory task only . Results yielded age differences on both prospective tasks. The age e ffect was particularly marked on the time-based task. Performance of t he event-based prospective task, however, had a higher cost to perform ance on the concurrent working memory task than the time-based task di d, suggesting that event-based responding has a substantial attentiona l requirement. The older adults also made a significant number of lime -monitoring errors when time monitoring was their sole task. This sugg ests that some time-based prospective memory deficits in older adults are due to a fundamental deficit in time monitoring rather than to pro spective memory.