The Role of Extrinsic Rewards and Cue-Intention Association in Prospective Memory in Young Children.

The current study examined, for the first time, the effect of cue-intention association, as well as the effects of promised extrinsic rewards, on prospective memoryin young children, aged 5-years-old (n = 39) and 7-years-old (n = 40). Children were asked to name pictures for a toy mole, whilst also having to remember to respond differently to certain target pictures ( prospective memorytask). The level to which the target picture was associated with the intention was manipulated across two conditions (low- or high-association) for all participants, whilst half of the participants were promised a reward for good prospective memoryperformance. Results showed a main effectof age, with the 7-year-olds outperforming the 5-year-olds. Furthermore, there was a main effectof reward, with those promised a reward performing better than those who were not. No effect was found for cue-association, with the participants of both age groups performing equally well in both association conditions. No significant interactions were found between any of the variables. The potentially important role of reward in young children’s everyday prospective memorytasks, and possible reasons for the lack of a reflexive-associative effect, are discussed.