Looking at Time Based Prospective Memory Performance from the Lens of Clock Monitoring Behaviour

Abstract

Time monitoring is an essential component in a Time Based Prospective Memory Task (TB PM). This study aimed to find if clock monitoring can aid TB PM performance or not and how clock checking behaviour is effected by varying the importance of TB PM task. 120 participants in this study performed two blocks of computer based Ongoing Task (OT) and PM tasks. The participants were divided in two groups and were given TB PM task of different importance level (either OT was rewarding (N=70) or PM task was rewarding (N=50)). Both the group also performed in a controlled condition where neither OT nor PM task were rewarding. The participants could see the clock during the experiment by pressing “Ctrl” key on the keyboard. Obtained data was analysed using Wilcoxon Signed Rank test, Mann Whiteney U test, independent sample t-tests and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. The results showed that clock checking was significantly higher when the PM task was rewarding as compared to when OT was rewarding. However, there was a significant correlation between clock monitoring and PM performance only when PM task was unimportant (0.440, p<0.01). When PM task was made important, there was no significant relation between PM performance of experimental and control group (0.162, ns). The study excluded personality factors that can effect clock monitoring behaviour and PM performance.