You remembered to make the coffee. But you left it at home. You forgot to charge the car. You meant to stop at the supermarket and only realised your mistake when you opened an empty fridge the next morning.
These aren’t signs of a failing mind. They’re examples of prospective memory in action – or rather, not in action. And according to Professor Antonina Pereira, a neuropsychologist and Executive Dean at the Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities at the University of Chichester, it’s one of the most important and under-appreciated aspects of how our memory works.
Antonina previously joined me for a chat on ‘My Pocket Psych’ and her observations on memory and task lists are worth highlighting as part of this month’s focus on productivity tools. Specifically, how to remember to complete the various tasks we set ourselves each day.
What is Prospective Memory?
Most of us are familiar with retrospective memory, which is recalling things that have already happened. Prospective memory is different. It’s memory for future intentions: remembering to do something at a specific point in time or when a particular situation arises.
It operates in two distinct ways. Time-based prospective memory involves acting at a set moment – dialling into a meeting at 2pm, for example. Event-based prospective memory is triggered by something happening in the environment. Like seeing a colleague and remembering you needed to pass on a message, driving past the supermarket and realising you need milk.
Of the two, event-based prospective memory is the harder to support. There’s no alarm to set, no notification to rely on. The cue has to come from the world around you, and if you miss it, the intention goes unmet. Consider for a moment how much of your working day consists of the need to remember to remember? You’ll quickly see the relevance of what follows.
Why it matters more than you might think
Forgetting someone’s name feels embarrassing. Forgetting to turn off the oven, missing a surgical instrument during an operation, or leaving a child in a hot car – these are prospective memory failures, and the consequences can be catastrophic.
Professor Pereira’s research shows that prospective memory is often the first thing to show signs of decline in the early stages of neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s disease – appearing even before the more familiar markers of retrospective memory loss. And it’s the lapses that caregivers notice first: not a forgotten name, but a forgotten action. The oven left on. The medication taken twice.
In the workplace, the stakes may be lower but the pattern is the same. The more unusual or infrequent a task, the more vulnerable it is to being forgotten. Routine actions become automatic and habitual. It’s the one-off, the contingent, the not-yet-habitual that slips through the cracks.
And when it does, the person who forgot is often judged harshly – as if forgetting were a moral failing rather than a natural feature of how memory works. Or they judge themselves harshly, engaging in some misplaced self-criticism and guilt.
The multitasking problem
One of the biggest threats to prospective memory is the way we work. Modern jobs demand that we hold multiple intentions in mind simultaneously, switching between tasks, responding to interruptions, and managing competing demands. All while trying to remember the things we’ve committed to doing later.
The research is clear: when we try to perform two complex tasks at the same time, performance on both declines. This isn’t a matter of willpower or focus. It’s a structural feature of how the brain processes information. Verbal tasks compete with other verbal tasks. Attention is finite.
Not only that, but multi-tasking has been shown to increase our anxiety and increase the errors we make.
The practical implication for anyone in a busy role is significant. The more cognitively loaded your day, the more likely prospective memory failures become. It’s not that you’re less capable – it’s that you’re asking your brain to do something it wasn’t designed to do alone. So watch out for any tendency to multi-task when it comes to complex tasks and experiment with doing things one at a time. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes.
What actually helps
The good news is that prospective memory is highly trainable. Professor Pereira points to several evidence-based approaches, and perhaps the most encouraging thing about all of them is their simplicity.
1. Make a list – and cross things off it
Checklists aren’t a sign of weakness or a lack of professionalism. Surgeons use them. Pilots use them. The act of writing down an intention offloads it from working memory and creates a physical record that survives distractions, interruptions and the general chaos of a busy day.
Equally important is the act of cancellation. Crossing an item off a list isn’t just satisfying! It actively prevents what researchers call commission errors, where a forgotten cancellation leads to an action being repeated. The physical act of striking through a completed item signals to the brain: this is done. Checklists work well for detailing your priorities for the day ahead or for episodic and complex routines, like on-boarding a new employee, or completing a tax return.
2. Use environmental cues strategically
For event-based tasks without a natural reminder, placing a visual cue somewhere unexpected can be highly effective. Professor Pereira leaves her car key on the table rather than in its usual drawer when she needs to remember to charge her electric vehicle. The out-of-place object draws attention and triggers the associated intention.
Research by McDaniel and Einstein describes this as the bizarreness effect. We are naturally drawn to things that do not belong where they are. A post-it note in an unusual spot works precisely because it is unusual. The stranger the placement, the more likely it is to catch your eye.
3. Physically rehearse the action
Professor Pereira’s own lab research points to a compelling technique: at the moment you form an intention, physically mime or enact the associated action. Pretend to pick up the book you need to return. Physically reach for the keys. This appears to engage areas of the brain associated with motor preparation, creating a richer memory trace that is more likely to be activated when the relevant moment arrives.
4. Leverage your technology
Smartphones now offer location-based reminders that fire when you arrive somewhere, and contact-based prompts that surface when you are messaging a particular person. These are genuinely useful tools for event-based prospective memory, but only if you know they exist and take the time to set them up. The phone in your pocket is a powerful external memory system, yet most people use a fraction of its capability. So take this as your cue to do a little research into what your smartphone can do for you.
5. Be Kind to Yourself About It
Perhaps the most important takeaway from our conversation was also the simplest: prospective memory failures are not a character flaw. They are a predictable consequence of busy lives, finite cognitive resources, and the way human memory is structured.
High achievers in particular can struggle with this. Admitting you need a checklist, a reminder, or a strategically placed post-it can feel like an admission of inadequacy. But the opposite is true. Using these tools is a sign of self-awareness and professionalism, not weakness. The people who resist them are the ones quietly running on an overloaded system, wondering why things keep slipping through.
Making your intentions feel meaningful and worthwhile is itself a memory strategy. And when things do go wrong, extending yourself the same compassion you would offer a colleague goes a long way.
None of us can remember everything. The good news is we don’t have to. The question is whether we are making it as easy as possible for ourselves. If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, check out my interview with Antonina. Then check out our various Productivity Courses to learn more about how we can help you and your team be your best, most productive selves at work.
