The effects of ongoing task absorption on event-based prospective memory in preschoolers

Zhang, Xinyuan; Ballhausen, Nicola; Liu, Si; Kliegel, Matthias; Wang, Lijuan · 2017 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2017.1346503

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study investigates how the absorption level of an ongoing task influences event-based prospective memory (PM) in preschoolers, specifically comparing 3- and 5-year-olds. The research addresses inconsistent findings in prior literature regarding age-related differences in PM, suggesting that variations in how engaging or "absorbing" the concurrent activity is may drive these discrepancies. Guided by the multiprocess theory, which posits that highly absorbing tasks consume cognitive resources needed for strategic PM monitoring, the authors hypothesized that high absorption would impair PM performance, particularly in younger children with more limited cognitive resources. The researchers employed a 2 (age: 3 vs. 5 years) × 2 (ongoing task absorption: high vs. low) between-subjects design with 80 children. The underlying ongoing task was identical across conditions—naming pictures—but the presentation format varied to manipulate absorption. The high-absorption condition involved a playful scenario game where children helped a puppet navigate a grid by turning over and naming cards, creating high engagement. The low-absorption condition required children to name pictures presented on a computer screen with minimal experimenter interaction. PM performance was measured by the child’s ability to stop naming and respond to specific target cues (house pictures) embedded within the ongoing task. Results indicated a significant main effect of age, with 5-year-olds demonstrating superior PM accuracy compared to 3-year-olds. However, ongoing task absorption did not significantly affect overall PM performance when collapsing across age groups. Crucially, planned comparisons revealed that age differences were present only in the high-absorption condition; 3-year-olds performed significantly worse than 5-year-olds in the engaging scenario game, whereas no significant age difference emerged in the low-absorption computer task. Additionally, ongoing task accuracy was higher in the low-absorption condition, confirming the manipulation’s effectiveness. The findings suggest that while ongoing task absorption does not universally impair PM in preschoolers, it modulates the expression of developmental differences. The results support the multiprocess theory by indicating that when cognitive resources are heavily drained by a highly absorbing task, younger children with limited executive function capacities suffer greater PM deficits than older peers. Conversely, in low-absorption tasks, sufficient resources remain for both age groups to perform equally. This highlights the importance of considering task engagement and resource allocation when studying cognitive development in early childhood.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• prospective memory interruptions