Back to the on-screen lesson ·
Carry an intention across a delay with a marker in the way, and use a check-off that shows whether a repeated job was done.
Paper packet. Every task here also exists on screen, where it is checked automatically; answers written on paper are not assessed by Nydus. When you are back at a device, enter your answers there.
You will place a marker that keeps a delayed intention alive, read a weekday check-off box, and count what it should show on a given day.
Your plans so far fire at the right moment. Real days are messier: an intention comes back when you cannot act, or you are cut off halfway, or you do a job so often that you cannot tell whether today's is done. This lesson covers those cases. The scenes are invented, and the check-off box holds cat food, not anything medical. The practice is optional and sits alongside any care you receive; if you notice new or changing trouble with memory, that is for your own clinicians.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Delayed intention | An intention that comes to mind when it cannot be done yet and must wait for a later moment. |
| Marker | An object moved into the way the moment an intention appears, so the next step runs into it. |
| Omission | Leaving a job undone while believing it was done. |
| Repetition | Doing a job twice because the first time was not recalled. |
| Check-off | A record whose state shows what is done, such as an empty compartment, a flipped tag or a tick. |
Two aids, one for each hard case.
The marker. The moment an intention comes back and you cannot act, move something into the way of your next step. Put the phone on the keyboard, the basket against the door, the keys in the lunch container. If you can, add a word or two on a sticky note. Take the marker away when the job is done.
The weekday box. For a job repeated on a schedule, fill a box that has one compartment per time slot, all at once. Each time you do the job, you empty that slot. The box is the record: empty means done, full means not yet. Here it holds a neighbor's cat food, portioned on Sunday for the week.
The delay. Often an intention comes back at the wrong moment: in the middle of a call, in the shower, just as the doorbell rings. It must now wait. Einstein and colleagues (2003) studied this in the laboratory. People had to hold an intended response for just 5, 15 or 40 seconds while they were busy or interrupted, and many lost it, even over those short delays. Repeating it to themselves did not stop the loss, and neither did an if-then plan. What did help, in a related study, was a small reminder kept in view after an interruption: a dot in the corner of the screen (McDaniel and colleagues, 2004). So when an intention comes back and you cannot act, the move is to put a marker in the way, straight away, rather than trusting yourself to hold it.
The repeat. A job done every day leaves a weak trace, because today's looks like yesterday's. Einstein, McDaniel, Smith and Shaw (1998) had people do one action once in each of 11 rounds. People both skipped it and repeated it, and both errors went up when their attention was divided. The fix is a record you can see: a check-off whose state is the answer to did I do it?
Another way: picture
A delayed intention is like a coat you take off in a busy restaurant. Hang it on your own chair and you will bump into it when you stand. Drop it anywhere and you will walk out without it.
Another way: steps
Can't act now? 1. Say the action once. 2. Put a marker in the way of your next step. 3. Act when you meet it. 4. Remove the marker. Repeated job? Let the box or the tick answer did I do it?
The marker goes where the next step toward the action will run into it. Ask: when the action becomes possible, what will I touch first? At the end of a call it is the keyboard. In the morning it is the bedroom door. Leaving work it is the car keys.
| Moment it comes back | When it can be done | Marker |
|---|---|---|
| In bed | first thing tomorrow | basket against the bedroom door |
| During a show | when it ends | phone on the remote |
| At the desk | when leaving | keys inside the lunch container |
A marker must be out of place to work. A phone on the keyboard is odd, so you notice it. Remove the marker when the job is done, or it becomes background.
A check-off works only if it is made while acting and read before acting. When you wonder did I already feed her?, do not search your memory; look at the box. If the box and your memory disagree, the box wins.
Set it up so that each slot is named by day and time: Wed PM, not slot 6. Fill it all at once, at a fixed time, such as Sunday evening. Then the count is easy to check: on Thursday, just after the morning feed, seven of the fourteen compartments should be empty. The same idea works as a card with a tick box per day, or a tag you flip from not yet to done on the cupboard door.
The National Fire Protection Association reports that unattended cooking is the leading cause of home cooking fires, and its advice is plain: stay in the kitchen while frying, grilling or broiling, and turn off the burner if you leave, even for a short time.
A fictional cook is frying onions when the doorbell rings. That is a delayed intention in the making: come back and finish the onions. First, follow the NFPA advice and turn off the burner, which takes away the danger of forgetting. Then carry the wooden spoon to the door. It is an odd thing to hold while signing for a package, so it keeps the unfinished job in view. Back in the kitchen, she puts the spoon down in the pan and relights the burner. If a phone call follows the doorbell, the spoon on the counter by the phone still points back to the stove.
Holding it in your head for just a minute. The laboratory delays that led to forgetting were seconds long. Place the marker now.
Asking memory whether a routine job is done. Today's feed and yesterday's feel the same. Read the box.
Ticking before doing. A tick made in advance records a plan, not an action, and it hides an omission. Tick while you do it.
Notice the intention cannot be done now.
11 p.m.: the wet laundry must go in the dryer first thing.
Acting now would mean getting up; the job belongs to tomorrow.
Ask what you will touch first when it is possible.
Tomorrow the first thing touched is the bedroom door.
The marker must be met at the moment the action becomes possible.
Put the marker in the way, now.
Empty laundry basket stood against the inside of the bedroom door.
It is out of place and must be moved to leave the room.
Act, then remove the marker.
7 a.m.: carry the basket down, load the dryer, basket back in the closet.
Putting the basket away shows the job is done and keeps the marker from becoming background.
Choose the slots.
Seven days × AM and PM = 14 compartments, labeled Mon AM to Sun PM.
Each slot is named by day and time, so none can be mistaken for another.
Fill it all at once at a fixed time.
Sunday 6 p.m.: one portion in each compartment.
Filling once means the state of the box records only feeding.
Empty the slot while feeding.
Wed AM: tip that compartment into the bowl.
The record is made by the act itself, so it cannot be skipped.
Read the box when unsure.
Wed evening, did I feed her this morning? → Wed AM is empty: yes.
The box answers without guessing, so there is no double feed.
Notice the intention cannot be done now.
2 p.m. at work: buy stamps at the post office on the way home.
The post office is on the drive home, hours from now.
Put a marker where the next step will meet it.
Sticky note stamps wrapped round the car key.
The key is the first thing touched when the drive home starts.
Act, then remove the marker.
A fictional workday. In the middle of a long video call, Mo remembers he must text his daughter about pickup when the call ends. He cannot text now. Which move best keeps the intention alive?
A fictional cat-food box has an AM and a PM compartment for each of seven days, 14 in all. It is day 3 of the week, just after the morning feed. Complete the check.
Count the empty compartments.
2 × (3 − 1) + 1 = e
Every earlier day has had both feeds, and today has had one.
Count the full compartments.
14 − empty = f
Every feed not yet given is still in the box.
Compare the box with the count.
Box matches → carry on; box does not match → check before feeding.
A mismatch means a feed was missed or doubled, which the box shows and memory does not.
Four fictional delayed intentions, remembered when they cannot be done. Match each to the marker that keeps it alive.
| Laundry basket in front of the bedroom door | Phone on top of the TV remote | Car keys inside the lunch container | Car keys hung on the library bag | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In bed: laundry to the dryer first thing | ||||
| During a show: call the plumber when it ends | ||||
| At the desk: take the lunch container home | ||||
| Brushing teeth: the library book is due tomorrow |
A fictional week: Tess feeds her neighbor's cat from a weekday box with a morning (AM) and evening (PM) compartment for each day. It is Wednesday evening. Mon AM to Wed AM are empty; Wed PM is full. For each compartment, has that feed been given?
| Compartment | Feed given? |
|---|---|
| Mon PM | |
| Tue AM | |
| Wed AM | |
| Wed PM |
A fictional weekday box for a neighbor's cat has 14 compartments: AM and PM for Monday to Sunday. It is Thursday, just after the morning feed. How many compartments should be empty, and how many full?
Empty: a. Full: b.
Somewhere new: a fictional shift at a hardware store. Each intention comes to mind when it cannot be done. Choose the marker that keeps it alive.
| Intention | Marker |
|---|---|
| Reorder paint trays at break | |
| Call Mr. Lin back after the rush | |
| Lock the paint cage at closing |
Lesson test: one question per skill, one attempt each, no hints. Your answers are checked when you submit.
A fictional fish-food box has one compartment per day, filled on Sunday. It is Friday morning, before feeding. Wednesday and Thursday are empty; Friday is full. Was the fish fed on each day?
| Day | Fed? |
|---|---|
| Wednesday | |
| Thursday | |
| Friday |
Next time an intention comes back when you cannot act, move one object into the way of your next step. For one job you repeat, choose a check-off: a box, a tick card or a flip tag. Next: what to do when the plan itself changes. This is optional practice alongside any care you receive, not treatment and not a test of memory. If anything about your memory is new or changing, tell your own clinicians. Stopping is always allowed: close the page, and the lesson reopens where you left it.
12. Your turn: stamps on the way home, step 3
Stop at the post office; peel off the note and throw it away.
Removing the note records that the job is done.