ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a research that used more or less naturalistic tasks for studying prospective memory (PM) and discusses the extent to which a reconnection from the laboratory to real-life was achieved. It presents a case that real-life studies on other types of future-oriented cognition have identified certain processes that are relevant for PM and should thus be considered by PM researchers. The chapter also reviews some of the findings and methods from the research areas that seem most relevant for a naturalistic approach to PM. It provides pitfalls and promises of naturalistic PM studies. Several new naturalistic methods involve virtual simulations of real-life PM tasks in the laboratory and in participants’ everyday life. Most studies on future-oriented cognition or prospection have been focused on voluntary constructions of plausible future events or scenarios in which future thoughts are generated in response to cues provided to the participants.
