Time-based prospective memory in young children—Exploring executive functions as a developmental mechanism

Abstract

The present study investigated time-based prospective memory (PM) during the transition from kindergarten/preschool to school age and applied mediation models to test the impact of executive functions (working memory, inhibitory control) and time monitoring on time-based PM development. Twenty-five preschool (age: M = 5.75, SD = 0.28) and 22 primary school children (age: M = 7.83, SD = 0.39) participated. To examine time-based PM, children had to play a computer-based driving game requiring them to drive a car on a road without hitting others cars (ongoing task) and to refill the car regularly according to a fuel gauge, which serves as clock equivalent (PM task). The level of gas that was still left in the fuel gauge was not displayed on the screen and children had to monitor it via a button press (time monitoring). Results revealed a developmental increase in time-based PM performance from preschool to school age. Applying the mediation models, only working memory was revealed to influence PM development. Neither inhibitory control alone nor the mediation paths leading from both executive functions to time monitoring could explain the link between age and time-based PM. Thus, results of the present study suggest that working memory may be one key cognitive process driving the developmental growth of time-based PM during the transition from preschool to school age.

Time’s up! Involvement of metamemory knowledge, executive functions, and time monitoring in children’s prospective memory performance

“…In agreement with previous studies, our results confirm that children's PM performance improves with age and varies as a function of the cognitive demand of the ongoing activity Running head: Metamemory Knowledge and Prospective Memory 18 (Kretschmer et al, 2013;Voigt et al, 2011;Ward et al, 2007;Yang et al, 2011;T. D. Zimmermann & Meier, 2006).…”

“…Children's PM performance is commonly supposed to vary with age (Kretschmer et al, 2013;Voigt et al, 2011;Yang et al, 2011;T. D. Zimmermann & Meier, 2006) as well as with the cognitive demand of the ongoing task (Ward et al, 2007).…”

“…In this context, like adults' performance (e.g., Schnitzspahn, Stahl, Zeintl, Kaller, & Kliegel, 2013), children's PM performance is usually shown to be related to the difficulty of the ongoing task as Running head: Metamemory Knowledge and Prospective Memory 5 well as to their level of executive abilities Mackinlay, Kliegel, & Mäntylä, 2009;Mahy, Moses, & Kliegel, 2014;Ward, Shum, McKinlay, Baker, & Wallace, 2007; for a review of the involvement of executive functions in children's PM development, see Mahy, Moses, & Kliegel, in press). In addition, time-based memory performance is also shown to be linked to participants' use of an effective time monitoring strategy (Kretschmer, Voigt, Friedrich, Pfeiffer, & Kliegel, 2013;Mäntylä, Carelli, & Forman, 2007;Voigt, Aberle, Schonfeld, & Kliegel, 2011;Voigt at al., 2014;Zinke et al, 2010). For instance, using an experimental paradigm in which children had to drive a vehicle (ongoing task) and to remember to refuel it before running out of gas (time-based memory task in which the fuel gauge served as an equivalent of the clock), Voigt et al (2011) demonstrated the involvement of strategic time monitoring in enhancing PM performance in children aged between 7 and 9 years old (for similar findings in preschool and early-school-aged children, see Kretschmer et al, 2013).…”

“…In addition, time-based memory performance is also shown to be linked to participants' use of an effective time monitoring strategy (Kretschmer, Voigt, Friedrich, Pfeiffer, & Kliegel, 2013;Mäntylä, Carelli, & Forman, 2007;Voigt, Aberle, Schonfeld, & Kliegel, 2011;Voigt at al., 2014;Zinke et al, 2010). For instance, using an experimental paradigm in which children had to drive a vehicle (ongoing task) and to remember to refuel it before running out of gas (time-based memory task in which the fuel gauge served as an equivalent of the clock), Voigt et al (2011) demonstrated the involvement of strategic time monitoring in enhancing PM performance in children aged between 7 and 9 years old (for similar findings in preschool and early-school-aged children, see Kretschmer et al, 2013).…”

“…For these reasons, the primary aim of the present study was to investigate whether and how time monitoring, metamemory knowledge, and executive functions interact to influence time-based memory performance, depending on the ongoing task's difficulty, in three groups of children aged 4, 6, and 9 years old (for studies that establish the importance of these three ages in children's PM development, see Kretschmer et al, 2013;Voigt et al, 2011;Yang, Chan, & Shum, 2011;T. D. Zimmermann & Meier, 2006).…”