Abstract/Summary

People often fail to complete their future intended behaviours (prospective memory). Prospective memory research on individuals with checking behaviours is relatively recent. Studies have revealed impaired prospective memory performance in individuals with high checking behaviours. As a result, individuals report less confidence in their memory and use more prospective memory aiding strategies compared to the general population. The aim of the experiments reported in the current thesis was to investigate prospective memory performance in a sub-clinical checking population and improve confidence and vividness in their actions. In order to achieve this, two strategies, namely implementation intentions and imagery, were used. These self¬-regulatory strategies have been repeatedly found to improve prospective memory performance in the general population. The findings of the experiments reported in this thesis revealed that prospective memory performance was not always consistent with previous findings, as in some studies high checkers performed as well as low checkers. However, this could be due to methodological differences between these and earlier studies. Nevertheless, when participants were instructed to use implementation intentions and imagery during encoding, their performance was significantly improved, with the effect being more profound in low checkers. Consistent with the literature, high checkers experienced more metacognitive deficits, particularly increased lack of cognitive confidence. It can be concluded that individuals with checking tendencies can benefit from the use of implementation intentions and imagery when forming future intentions as it was found to improve prospective memory performance and cognitive confidence. These observations are discussed in relation to previous findings and experimental limitations are reported. Further studies should aim to replicate these findings using a clinical checking population.