Effects of Age and Motivational Framing on Prospective Memory Performance in Younger and Older Adults

The primary aim of this project is to determine how age and motivational framing jointly influence prospective memory (PM) performance. First, it will be tested if younger adults outperform older adults regarding their PM performance in a laboratory setting. Previous research has shown that younger adults tend to have a better PM performance than older adults in a laboratory setting (Henry et al., 2004). Second, it will be examined whether a socially oriented or performance oriented motivational instruction improves PM performance relative to a neutral instruction, building on evidence that perceived importance and social relevance enhance PM performance (Brandimonte et al., 2010). Third, it will be assessed whether the motivational boost is larger for older adults than for younger adults, a pattern reported for several motivation manipulations (e.g., Penningroth & Scott, 2007). Additionally, exploratory analyses will examine whether gender is related to overall PM performance or moderate the effects of motivational framing. No specific hypotheses are preregistered for these analyses.