Objective: HIV–associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) are associated with deficits in prospective memory (PM). However, most PM research in HIV has used single-event tasks as opposed to habitual PM paradigms, which may be more relevant to clinical populations for whom many health-care behaviors must be performed both frequently and routinely. Method: For the current study, we examined habitual PM and its associations with real-world functioning outcomes in 36 HIV+ individuals with HAND (HAND+), 70 HIV+ individuals without HAND (HAND–), and 115 HIV– individuals. The ongoing task consisted of 24 1-min Stroop trial blocks in which the emotive and cognitive load was manipulated. The habitual PM task required participants to press the spacebar once per block, but only after 20 s had elapsed. Results: A series of MANOVAs covarying for relevant clinicodemographic factors revealed a main effect of study group on habitual PM, such that the HAND+ cohort made significantly more repetition errors than the HIV– and HAND– groups, particularly during early trial blocks. There was no main effect of ongoing task demands, nor was there an interaction between HAND group and task demands. Within the entire HIV+ sample, poorer habitual PM was associated with deficits in learning and dysfunction in real-world outcomes, including medication nonadherence and failures on a naturalistic health-care task. Conclusion: Findings indicate that HAND may be associated with deficient internal source monitoring or temporal discrimination for habitual PM output that may play a critical role in real-world functioning, including HIV disease management.
