Abstract
We examined how emotional motivation of background stimuli and prospective memory (PM) targets, along with cognitive control, jointly influence the PM aftereffects using a repetitive PM cue paradigm. Experiment 1 revealed that high background avoidance motivation inhibited PM aftereffects, whereas the combination of background approach motivation and target avoidance motivation enhanced PM aftereffects—indicating that emotional motivation modulates PM aftereffects by regulating cue salience and cognitive resource consumption. Experiment 2 showed that focal cues exerted a stronger inhibitory effect on PM aftereffects, while focal cues paired with incongruent background-irrelevant stimuli enhanced PM aftereffects—demonstrating that cognitive control regulates PM aftereffects through cognitive resource availability. The above results indicate that: (1) The generation mechanism of PM aftereffects aligns with the modified dual mechanism theory, involving spontaneous retrieval and strategic monitoring processes that are dynamically shaped by emotional motivation and cognitive control. (2) The reactivation and deactivation of completed intentions constitute a dynamic continuum, jointly modulated by emotional and cognitive factors, with cognitive resource availability serving as a critical mediator.