Effect of motivational incentives on prospective memory performance in preschoolers

Little is known about the mechanisms and processes that lead to successful prospective memory performance in children, especially in preschoolers. Thus, the present study investigated the role of task motivation in age differences in prospective memory performance across the preschool age range. For the first time, a task procedure was used that equates ongoing task difficulty by means of age-standardized ongoing task material. Twenty 3-year-old and twenty 5-year-old children were asked to perform a prospective memory task in a high and in a low-motivation condition while being engaged in age-appropriate subtests of a general ability test. No main effect of Age or Motivation in prospective memory performance was found. Yet, a significant interaction effect of AgexMotivation was observed, as there was no difference between the age groups in the high-motivation condition, while in the low-motivation condition prospective memory performance of 3-year-old children was reduced compared to the 5-year-olds. Findings indicate that for younger children motivation or task importance may help in allocating the available resources to the task elements of interest.