Principal Investigator: mgr Maria Wójcik

Research project objectives/Research hypothesisThe subject of this research project is prospective memory, which is defined as an ability to remember  about performingspecific activities  in  the  future. The  subject  of  the research  is  privateintentions ofthe respondents performedin theirnatural environment.Such memory is often used in daily  lifeto performintentions,  from  simple  ones  (remembering  about  disposing  of  garbage  while leaving  home)  to  more  complex  ones (remembering  about  organizingbirthday  party  for  friends).The main goal of the research projectis to find out how people manage to perform theirindividual intentionsandto  findsignificantpredictorsof performance  of prospective  tasks  in  daily  life  ofpeople inearly and middle adulthood. Examining the impact of the type of a prospective task (time-based and event-based tasks) on thelevel of performance of prospective tasks andrelation between dominantaffect(positive, negative) andperformance of dailyprospective taskswill be particularly important. Other  variables, of  which  relation  with performance will  be  analysed: level  of  stress, personal  importanceof intentions, the  frequency  of  making  use  of  external  assistance, the  level  of being absorbed by daily life.Research project methodologyAn advantage of the project will bea new methodology ofresearch onperformance ofdaily prospective intentionsthat enables to determinevarious types ofprospective tasks andexamine thelevel  ofperformance  of  these tasks. The  main  research  will  be  conductedamongprofessionally active people, at the age between 40 and 59. The respondentswill be divided into two age groups: a group of people inearly adulthood(at the age between 24 and 39) and agroup of people inmiddle adulthood(at the age between 40 and 59). In addition, a groupof students (both students of master’s and  postgraduate  studies)  at  the  age  between  24  and  30  will  be  selected  and  compared  with  a subgroup of professionally active people in  early adulthoodatthe same age.Two research will be conducted–one  extensive  research,  with  measurement  of  all  potentially  significantpredictorsof prospective  memory  and  more  detailed  measurement  of performance  ofprospective  tasks  and  one less extensive research–in which type of prospective task will be manipulatedto check its impact on performanceof  scheduled prospective  tasks.The research  methodapplied  in  my  research  will consist  of:1) the  author’s  own  questionnaire  in  three  parts  that will  enable  to  examine dailyprospective  tasks,taking  division  into  prospective  tasks  with  event-based  and  time-based  contextinto  account,  2)daily  measurement  of performance  ofprospective  tasks  in  a  given  day,  taking punctuality  of  their performance  into  consideration, 3) Positive  and  NegativeAffect  Schedule PANASexamining thelevel ofaffect in a given day, 4) Sense of Stress Questionnaire-measuringgeneral  level  of  stressand5) aquestionnaireadapted  toPolish  conditions ,,Business  of  Life” –determiningthe level of being absorbed by daily life.Expected impact of the researchproject on the development of scienceAn  expected  final  effect  will  be  determination  ofsignificantpredictorshaving  impact  on performance  of prospective  tasks with  time-based  and  event-based  context in  peoplein  early  and middle adulthood. Prospective memory is a new  and developingresearch  area, therefore, there are not too many research on this subject. This research project will fill the gap in literature. There are not too manyresearch on prospective memory innatural conditionsanalysingprivateintentions of peoplewith  division  intointentions  with  time-based  and  event-based  context. Therefore,  thisresearch will show how  people manage to performintended actions in theconditionsof daily life.An  advantage  of  thisresearchwill  also  be  aresearchgroup  of  peoplein  middle  adulthood.  The performance  of prospective  tasks innatural  conditions andsensitivity  to  change  of  context  fromlaboratoryintonaturalhas  never  been  analysed  in  such  a  group. Therefore,thisresearch will contributetofutureresearch on dailyprospective tasks.