Electrophysiological correlates of strategic monitoring in event-based and time-based prospective memory.

Cona, Giorgia; Arcara, Giorgio; Tarantino, Vincenza; Bisiacchi, Patrizia Silvia · 2012 · DOAJ

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031659

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Summary

This study investigates the electrophysiological correlates of strategic monitoring in prospective memory (PM), specifically comparing event-based PM (triggered by external cues) and time-based PM (triggered by internal time estimates). While previous research established that strategic monitoring involves maintaining an intention in memory (retrieval mode) and checking for cues (target checking), no prior study had examined the event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with time-based PM. The authors aimed to identify commonalities and differences in ERP modulations between the two PM types to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying these cognitive processes. The experiment employed a between-subjects design with 29 university students divided into event-based (n=14) and time-based (n=15) PM groups. Participants performed an ongoing letter-string discrimination task while maintaining a PM intention. In the event-based condition, participants monitored for a specific letter cue; in the time-based condition, they pressed a key every five minutes, aided by optional clock checks. EEG data were recorded during baseline trials (ongoing task only) and PM trials (ongoing task plus PM intention). ERPs were analyzed in four time windows (130–180 ms, 180–300 ms, 400–600 ms, and 600–800 ms) to isolate specific neural components. Behavioral results showed high accuracy for both PM tasks, with no significant differences in ongoing task performance between conditions or blocks when analyzed via standard ANOVA, though mixed-effects modeling revealed a PM interference effect when accounting for practice. ERP analysis revealed distinct patterns. In the 130–180 ms window, an early positivity was observed exclusively in the event-based PM condition, suggesting a "readiness mode" involving heightened attentional resource allocation for cue detection. In the 180–300 ms window, both conditions exhibited a sustained frontal positivity, interpreted as the neural correlate of the retrieval mode mechanism, which maintains the intention active in memory. Finally, in the 400–600 ms window, a parietal positivity resembling the P3b component appeared only in the event-based condition, likely reflecting the target checking process of verifying environmental stimuli for the PM cue. The findings provide the first electrophysiological evidence for time-based PM, demonstrating that while both PM types share a frontal retrieval mode mechanism, event-based PM recruits additional neural resources. Specifically, event-based PM involves an early attentional readiness component and a later parietal target-checking component, neither of which is present in time-based PM. This dissociation supports theoretical models proposing that time-based PM relies on periodic time monitoring rather than continuous environmental scanning, highlighting distinct neural substrates for cue detection versus intention maintenance.

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• prospective memory interruptions