Abstract
Abstract: This study aims to investigate how qualitative and quantitative aspects of working memory retention are associated with prospection. To address this question, the present study used an individual-differences approach, with an assumption that if two psychological constructs are related, then the performance on a task limited by one construct should be predictive of the performance on a task limited by the related construct. Specifically, we assessed the qualitative and quantitative aspects of working memory using the continuous report task and Zhang & Luck (2008) mixture model, and prospection using the Survey of Autobiographical Memory. Linear regression analyses revealed that prospection was positively associated with working memory capacity (i.e., the maximum number of items maintained in WM). Furthermore, we median split the participants into high- versus low- prospection groups based on the prospection measure. We found that prospection was positively associated with working memory capacity in high-prospection participants, consistent with the Semantic Scaffolding hypothesis. In contrast, prospection was positively associated with working memory precision in low-prospection participants, consistent with the Constructive Episodic Simulation hypothesis. Overall, these results suggest that prospection may involve different processes, constructive episodic simulation and semantic scaffolding, that interact with working memory in dissociable manner. Keywords: Prospection; Working Memory; Capacity; Precision