Title
Sleeping to Remember: Spontaneous Retrieval of Prospective Memories Across Sleep and Wake Delays
Author's Department/Program
Psychology
Language
English (en)
Date of Award
January 2009
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Chair and Committee
Mark McDaniel
Abstract
Laboratory-based prospective memory tasks have rarely examined the effect of retention interval on later remembering. In the current study, participants had to remember to perform an intended action: press Q in response to a target cue) after a short delay: approximately 20 min), a 12-hr sleep delay, or a 12-hr wake delay. The results demonstrated a large decline in prospective memory performance after a 12-hr wake delay: relative to the short delay condition). Interestingly, prospective remembering was not only better following a 12-hr sleep delay than a 12-hr wake delay but performance in this condition did not differ significantly from performance in the short delay condition. Cost analyses: i.e., ongoing task performance decline associated with embedding a prospective memory task) demonstrated that spontaneous retrieval processes primarily supported prospective remembering. These results are discussed in relation to theories of prospective memory retrieval and sleep-dependent memory consolidation.
Recommended Citation
Scullin, Michael, "Sleeping to Remember: Spontaneous Retrieval of Prospective Memories Across Sleep and Wake Delays" (2009). All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). 486.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/486
Comments
Permanent URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7936/K76T0JRV