Jiaqun Gan

Abstract The failure to forget a completed prospective memory intention, which is known as an aftereffect of prospective memory (PM), can have a negative impact on individuals. The underlying mechanism of this phenomenon—whether it stems from a resource-dependent top-down monitoring process or a resource-independent bottom-up spontaneous retrieval process—remains unclear.

Ego depletion reduces the ability of individuals to resist irrelevant interference, which in turn complicates the successful completion of prospective memory tasks. In Experiment 1, we recruited 120 university students to investigate the effects of ego depletion on prospective memory under different attentional loads and its different components.

1. Introduction Prospective memory is the ability to perform something that has been planned for future situations [1]. Event-based prospective memory (EBPM) and time-based prospective memory (TBPM) are two types of prospective memory artificially divided according to different types of cues. EBPM needs to be performed when there is a clear cue from the outside world (e.g., you should remember to buy some vegetables when passing the market).