Remembering to remember: An examination of the cognitive processes underlying prospective memory

A central focus of prospective memory research has been to understand how people self-generate the retrieval of intentions and how they remember to execute these intentions at appropriate times. In this chapter we review two theories that have stimulated much research toward explaining the cognitive underpinnings of prospective remembering, and then we consider a recently proposed theory that challenges these predominant theoretical approaches. As well, we review the empirical support for each of these three theories: the preparatory attentional and memory processes theory, the multiprocess theory, and the recently advanced delay theory.