Investigating how implementation intentions improve non-focal prospective memory tasks.

Implementation intentions are a self-regulatory strategy broadly studied in the area of social cognition that can improve realization of one's goals and improve performance on prospective memory tasks. Three experiments, using a non-focal task for which the prospective memory targets were specified at the time of intention formation, investigated whether (and how) implementation intentions can improve non-focal prospective memory performance. An improvement in prospective memory performance was accompanied by an increase in the allocation of conscious resources to the prospective memory task, but not by an increase in perceived importance of the prospective memory task.