Personality and metacognitive predictors of strategy use and appointment attendance

Prospective memory (PM), or remembering to complete an action in the future, plays an important role in daily functioning. Forgetting to complete mundane tasks like checking mail can be frustrating but forgetting tasks like taking medication has more serious consequences. PM forgetting, however, is often avoided by using internal strategies (e.g., mental rehearsal) and external strategies (e.g., alarms) for everyday tasks. Associations between personality and memory have been documented but the relationship between personality, strategy use, and objective PM performance is missing in the literature. The current study investigated how personality and self-evaluation of PM ability relate to reported strategies used for a self-generated, real-world PM intention as measured by appointment attendance. Results indicated higher conscientiousness, but not neuroticism, was related to more self-reported strategy use. Exploratory models further suggest self-evaluated PM ability is not fully responsible for the indirect effect of conscientiousness on self-reported strategy use. Findings add to metacognitive aspects of PM theories but also have translational applications by understanding who, and under what conditions, is most likely to use strategies to support successful PM.