Let it Go: How Trusted Reminders Restructure Memory

Do prospective memory (PM) reminders act as a cognitive backup that preserves internal representations, or do they prompt a migration that restructures how intentions are maintained? We tested this in a student population (N=320) by crossing PM reminder reliability (0%, 50%, 100%) and availability (present vs. absent). Thought probes served as a real-time proxy for whether the intention remained activated during the retention interval between encoding and retrieval. In Session 1 (trust trials), reminders enhanced performance without reducing internal activation, consistent with the representational backup view. However, after experiencing reliable external support, Session 2 (critical trials) showed that those in the 100% condition reduced internal activation and reallocated attention to the ongoing task. Moreover, unexpectedly removing reminders dropped performance in the 100% condition below the 0% condition. These findings suggest that offloading reshapes how intentions are maintained and provides a lens for observing how memory adapts to changing external support.