The effect of emotion on prospective memory: a three-level meta-analytic review

Prospective memory (PM), or the ability to remember to perform planned actions in the future, is fundamental in daily life. As a potential influencing factor of prospective memory, emotion has garnered significant attention. However, prior studies examining the impact of emotion on PM yield mixed findings. This study systematically reviewed 37 studies examining the effects of emotion on prospective memory, extracting a total of 171 effect sizes. The main effect analysis from the three-level meta-analysis revealed that positive emotions enhance prospective memory performance, supporting the positive effect theory. However, the facilitating effect of emotion varied depending on factors such as prospective memory task type, participant age, emotion induction method, study design, and the ecological validity of the experiment. The current study represents the first comprehensive review and meta-analysis of emotion’s impact on PM and proposes directions for future research on emotional effects on PM.

前瞻性记忆（Prospective memory，PM）指个体记得在未来执行计划行为的能力，是日常生活的基础。情绪作为前瞻性记忆的潜在影响因素，已受到广泛关注。然而，以往探究情绪对PM影响的研究结果存在分歧。本研究系统综述了37项探究情绪对前瞻性记忆影响的研究，共提取171个效应量。三水平元分析的主效应分析表明，积极情绪可提升前瞻性记忆表现，支持积极效应理论。但情绪的促进效应因前瞻性记忆任务类型、被试年龄、情绪诱导方法、研究设计及实验生态效度等因素而异。本研究是首项针对情绪对PM影响的全面综述与元分析，并为未来情绪对PM影响的研究提出了方向。