ABSTRACT
In the field of cognitive and applied neurosciences, cognitive functions that sustain the ability to code, keep in mind and realize intentions in the future are captured by the term prospective memory (PM). PM is a crucial ability for autonomous management and functional adaptation of an individual. Results from studies with brain-damaged individuals show that, within PM, two main components could be dissociated: a properly prospective component and a retrospective component. The individuation of the two PM components appears to be quite useful for the purpose of the clinical examination of people with memory complaints. Indeed, data document that the assessment of the prospective component may improve, in the elderly, differential diagnosis of early cognitive impairment. Available evidence documents that PM is a modular cognitive ability, with functional and structural neural correlates, partially associated with executive and episodic memory functions.
