No effects of executive control depletion on prospective memory retrieval processes

Research has suggested that prospective memory retrieval is reliant on executive control processes, and the degree to which these processes are necessary for intention fulfillment is dependent on a host of variables related to the prospective memory task. Based on results suggesting that aspects of the prospective memory task vary in their need for executive control, the current study examined the possibility that executive control depletion from the Stroop task would negatively transfer to prospective memory performance. Depletion of executive control, measured objectively in a Stroop task, did not impair prospective memory performance in either low or high cue-target association conditions. However, participants’ subjective assessments of their own cognitive fatigue correlated significantly with their prospective memory performance, regardless of the association between cues and target responses.