Relationship Between Prospective and Retrospective Memory
Early research on prospective memory and retrospective memory has demonstrated that retrospective memory has a role in prospective memory. It was necessary to create more accurate terms in order to explain the relationship fully. Prospective memory describes more accurately an experimental paradigm, therefore, the term prospective remembering was subsequently used. A review by Burgess and Shallice described studies where patients had impaired prospective memory, but intact retrospective memory, and also studies where the impaired retrospective memory caused an impact on prospective memory. A double dissociation for the two has not been found, therefore concluding they are not independent entities. The role of retrospective memory in prospective memory is suggested to be minimal, and takes the form of the information required to make plans. According to Einstein & McDaniel (1990) the retrospective memory component of the prospective remembering task refers to the ability to retain the basic information about action and context. An example used in the reviews explains this in the following scenario:
- You are intending to mail a letter on your way home tomorrow evening, at the mailbox that you have used before"
The basic information of the retrieval context includes time, location and objects, which in combination form the required retrieval context. Each individual representation required is a form of retrospective memory. Despite all the research this issue is still debatable within the scientific community.
Read more about this topic: Retrospective Memory
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