Modulation of the prospective and retrospective components of memory for intentions in younger and older adults

We evaluate two hypotheses that have implications for the study of prospective memory. First, we examine whether the effect of age is greater on the prospective component or the retrospective component of memory for intentions; and second, we examine whether data-driven and conceptually driven processes differentially influence these two components. The influence of data-driven processes was varied by maintaining or changing the format of the prospective cue from study to test. The influence of conceptually driven processes was manipulated by varying the degree of semantic relatedness between the prospective cue and intention. The effect of age was greater on the prospective component than on the retrospective component. A change in study-test format had the greatest effect on the prospective component, whereas the degree of semantic relatedness had the greatest effect on the retrospective component. These findings suggest that memory for intentions is influenced by both data-driven and conceptually driven processes.