Devoted exclusively to prospective memory, this volume organizes the research and thoughts of the important contributors to the field in one comprehensive resource. The chapter authors not only focus on their own work, but also review other research areas and address those where the methods and theories from the retrospective memory literature are useful and where they fall short. Each section is followed by at least one commentary written by a prominent scholar in the field of memory. The commentators present critical analyses of the chapters, note ideas that they found particularly exciting, and use these ideas as a foundation on which to elaborate their own views of prospective memory. This volume will stimulate the thinking of active prospective memory researchers, provide a coherent organization of the area for the increasing number of people who are interested in prospective memory but who are not yet actively conducting research in the area, and serve as a book of readings for upper division seminars.

Over the last decade, the topic of prospective memory - the encoding, storage and delayed retrieval of intended actions - has attracted much interest, and this is reflected in a rapidly growing body of literature: 350 scientific articles have been published on this topic since the appearance of the first edited book in 1996. In addition to the quantity, the quality and diversity of approaches to research in the field has also developed rapidly. Prospective Memory provides an accessible, integrated guide to the expanded literature on the topic. While many of the authors also contributed to the 1996 book and can be regarded as the founders of current prospective memory research, other contributions come from authors who are relatively new to the field and who are examining broader aspects of prospective memory and, as a result, extending our understanding of it. Besides more generally reviewing the expanded literature, all authors have been encouraged to consider future directions for research and to raise questions that they believe all researchers in this area will need to address. The book is divided into four sections that together provide a broad and deep introduction to the cognitive, neuroscience, developmental, and applied aspects of prospective memory. Following the model of the first prospective memory volume, prominent memory researchers evaluate the papers in each section and comment more generally on the state of prospective memory research in the four major areas targeted.

Over the last decade, the topic of prospective memory - the encoding, storage and delayed retrieval of intended actions - has attracted much interest, and this is reflected in a rapidly growing body of literature: 350 scientific articles have been published on this topic since the appearance of the first edited book in 1996. In addition to the quantity, the quality and diversity of approaches to research in the field has also developed rapidly. Prospective Memory provides an accessible, integrated guide to the expanded literature on the topic. While many of the authors also contributed to the 1996 book and can be regarded as the founders of current prospective memory research, other contributions come from authors who are relatively new to the field and who are examining broader aspects of prospective memory and, as a result, extending our understanding of it. Besides more generally reviewing the expanded literature, all authors have been encouraged to consider future directions for research and to raise questions that they believe all researchers in this area will need to address. The book is divided into four sections that together provide a broad and deep introduction to the cognitive, neuroscience, developmental, and applied aspects of prospective memory. Following the model of the first prospective memory volume, prominent memory researchers evaluate the papers in each section and comment more generally on the state of prospective memory research in the four major areas targeted.

Devoted exclusively to prospective memory, this volume organizes the research and thoughts of the important contributors to the field in one comprehensive resource. The chapter authors not only focus on their own work, but also review other research areas and address those where the methods and theories from the retrospective memory literature are useful and where they fall short. Each section is followed by at least one commentary written by a prominent scholar in the field of memory. The commentators present critical analyses of the chapters, note ideas that they found particularly exciting, and use these ideas as a foundation on which to elaborate their own views of prospective memory.
This volume will stimulate the thinking of active prospective memory researchers, provide a coherent organization of the area for the increasing number of people who are interested in prospective memory but who are not yet actively conducting research in the area, and serve as a book of readings for upper division seminars.

While there are many books on retrospective memory, or remembering past events, Prospective Memory: An Overview and Synthesis of an Emerging Field is the first authored text to provide a straightforward and integrated foundation to the scientific study of memory for actions to be performed in the future. Authors Mark A. McDaniel and Gilles O. Einstein present an accessible overview and synthesis of the theoretical and empirical work in this emerging field. Key Features: Focuses on students rather than researchers: While there are many edited works on prospective memory, this is the first authored text written in an accessible style geared toward students. Provides a general approach for the controlled, laboratory study of prospective memory: The authors place issues and research on prospective memory within the context of general contemporary themes in psychology, such as the issue of the degree to which human behavior is mediated by controlled versus automatic processes. Investigates the cognitive processes that underlie prospective remembering: Examples are provided of event-based, time-based, and activity-based prospective memory tasks while subjects are engaged in ongoing activities to parallel day-to-day life. Suggests fruitful directions for further advancement: In addition to integrating what is now a fairly loosely connected theoretical and empirical field, this book goes beyond current work to encourage new theoretical insights. Intended Audience: This relatively brief book is an excellent supplemental text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses such as Memory, Human Memory, and Learning & Memory in the departments of psychology and cognitive science.