Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an overview of prospective memory (PM) research methods. It presents an outline of the terminology that has become standard in the PM literature. It reviews issues of PM research that are currently “hot topics” in the field and make an effort to relate them to other lines of research. The book focuses on one fatal PM error, namely the false execution of PM intentions that have been canceled or already finished, and the origin of these errors as well as on potential ways to avoid them. It also presents the long history of dual pathway models in cognitive psychology into account. The book highlights that context plays an important role in different areas of cognitive psychology and make the point that this is also likely to be true for PM.