Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Publication Title
Memory
Keywords
task choices, precrastination, executive function, inhibition, cognitive offloading
Abstract
Precrastination is the act of completing a task as soon as possible even at the expense of extra effort. Past research has suggested that individuals precrastinate due to a desire to reduce their cognitive load, also known as the cognitive load-reduction (CLEAR) hypothesis [VonderHaar, R. L., McBride, D. M., & Rosenbaum, D. A. (2019). Task order choices in cognitive and perceptual-motor tasks: The cognitive-load-reduction (CLEAR) hypothesis. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 81(7), 2517–2525. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-019-01754-z]. This idea stems from the notion that it is taxing to hold intentions in working memory and completing a task as soon as possible releases cognitive resources for other tasks. Based on this hypothesis, we predicted that aspects of executive function may play a role in precrastination. We tested this prediction using a box-moving task developed in a previous study to measure precrastination. We also incorporated tasks measuring updating and inhibition aspects of executive function: the Stroop interference (both experiments) and Simon tasks (Experiment 2) to measure inhibition and the 2-Back memory task (Experiment 1) to measure updating. We found that the majority of participants precrastinated significantly throughout the box-moving task trials, consistent with results from past studies. However, no relation was found between the executive function tasks and rates of precrastination. These results may be due to the automaticity of precrastination when cognitive resources are limited.
Funding Source
This article was published Open Access thanks to a transformative agreement between Milner Library and Taylor & Francis.
Recommended Citation
Masih, S. N., Jun Seong Liew, R., & McBride, D. M. (2024). Is precrastination related to updating and inhibition aspects of executive function? Memory, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2024.2384948
DOI
10.1080/09658211.2024.2384948
Comments
First published in Memory (2024): https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2024.2384948
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.