Effect of time pressure and cue salience on event-based prospective memory

As a source of stress, time pressure could either have a negative impact on individual cognitive activities, or be a source of motivation to promote. Studies show that high time pressure can impair the performance of event-based prospective memory (EBPM). However, the effect of different levels of time pressure on EBPM remains unexplored. This study is the first to systematically investigate the effect of time pressure on EBPM performance. In Experiment 1, six different time pressure levels (3,000 ms, 1,810 ms, 1,190 ms, 880 ms, 725 ms, and 570 ms), were set for 174 voluntary participants. The results showed that time pressure had a negative effect on EBPM performance, and that EBPM performance gradually decreased, with the increase of time pressure. Experiment 2 focused on how to improve EBPM performance under time pressure. A mixed experimental design of three time pressures (1,810 ms, 1,190 ms, 725 ms) x two cue salience (salient, non-salient) was used to explore whether salient cues could improve EBPM performance under different time pressure situations. This experiment involved 82 voluntary participants. The results showed that salient cues significantly improved EBPM performance under three time pressure situations. This study suggests that time pressure acts as a hindrance stressor, to negatively affect EBPM performance. Moreover, people can avoid forgetting the EBPM task by improving the salience of the cue under time pressure.