Improving intention realisation using emotional cues and implementation intentions.

Background: Remembering to act to realise an intention in the future is an important ability that comprises several cognitive processes, known collectively as prospective memory. Prospective memory failures can be costly, and so the effectiveness of strategies to improve prospective memory is an important area of investigation.
Aim: To investigate whether ‘if [cue] – then [response]’ plans, known as implementation intentions, are effective at improving prospective memory and whether their effectiveness can be enhanced by the use of emotionally-valenced cues.
Method: A systematic review and set of meta-analyses were conducted to consolidate the current knowledge on the effectiveness of emotional cues at improving prospective memory. Two experimental studies were then conducted which utilised implementation intentions in combination with emotional cues to improve prospective memory in a computer-based task (Experiment 1) and a naturalistic hand-washing task (Experiment 2).
Results: The results of the meta-analyses confirmed that despite contradictory results, emotional cues can improve prospective memory. However, the benefit is dependent on both the valence of the emotional cues and the timing of the manipulation of the valence of the cues. The results of the two experimental studies were inconclusive as to whether the strategies of emotional cues and implementation intentions are effective together. In the first experiment, emotional cues were effective at improving prospective memory whereas implementation intentions were not, and in the second experiment the opposite pattern was observed.
Conclusion: Although the use of emotional cues and implementation intentions were not observed to be effective together in the present research, important moderating variables were identified that improve our knowledge of the parameters of effectiveness of both implementation intentions and emotional cues. Further research is suggested to continue this line of investigation.