Encoding Modality and Prospective Memory in Children

In three experiments, we investigated the effects of different cue encoding modalities on young and older children's prospective memory. In Experiments 1 and 2, younger subjects showed the highest performance when the cue prompting the action was visually presented, whereas older children's performance benefited from enactment of the response. However, results from Experiment 3 showed that, under conditions which emphasise the link between the cue and the action to be performed, even younger children's memory benefits from motoric enactment of the response. These results are discussed in terms of the development of specific integration processes necessary for prospective memory retrieval.