AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY

1909 Mind  
Event-based prospective memory tasks entail detecting cues or reminders in our environment related to previously established intentions. If they are detected at an opportune time, then the intention can be fulfilled. In Experiments 1a-1c, we gave people 3 different nonfocal intentions (e.g., respond to words denoting animals) and discovered that negatively valenced cues delivered the intention to mind less frequently than positively valenced cues. In Experiment 2, this effect was extended to
more » ... enced and neutral sentential contexts with convergent results that cues embedded in negatively valenced sentences evoked remembering the intention less often than in positive contexts. In addition, both classes of valence caused the intention to be forgotten more often than a more neutral context. We propose that valence has the ability to usurp attentional resources that otherwise would have supported successful prospective memory performance.
doi:10.1093/mind/xviii.1.313 fatcat:mltgix6rergo3ojubctjif3sai