Rehabilitation and Topic of Prospective Memory

Abstract

  Prospective memory (PM) is to remember the future intentions or plans in every day life. The dual pathway model in PM proposes spontaneous retrieval and intentional retrieval. Some conditions are related to PM retrieval. They are types of PM tasks such as time-based task and event-based task, retrieval modalities such as remembering to remember and remembering the contents, and motivation and meta-memory. Spontaneous retrieval is easier because PM cues are included in ongoing tasks, and intentional retrieval requires active recognition of cues by strategic monitoring. We carried out PM training to an amnesic patient and a patient with dysexecutive syndrome. The former showed improvement in encoding and strategic monitoring, and the latter showed some improvement in strategic monitoring. The results suggest that PM training could improve retrieval process.