14-15: Memory Development Flashcards
What is memory
the ability to recall and recognize information learned/experienced in the past
recall
- more difficult
- Retrieving information out of storage into your conscious awareness
-pulling something from nothing
recognition
identifying items you previously learned
-pulling information out without a cue
what is memory a mixture of
- direct experience of the item/event
- what we know (from previous experience, prior knowledge)
- what we infer (from direct and previous experience)
how is memory related to concepts
a person’s prior experience with what is typically in a concept, and their inferences about what should be in an concept (based on their concepts of situations) influenced their memories
-memory is a an inextricable aspect of cognition
what are the phases of memory and what do they consist of
- encoding : gist (general sense), verbatim (literal details)
- storage: storing information
- retrieval: recalling information, reconstructing, building memories
how do we measure memory in infants 3 ways
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
- deferred imitation
classical conditioning
For conditioning to work, the participant must remember the association between the conditioned stimulus (tone) and the unconditioned stimulus (food), in order to evoke the conditioned response (salivating).
T or F: memory is not just straight recall
true
retrieval consists of what 3 things
- inference
- prior knowledge
- direct experience
how is classical conditioning a test of memory
by examining how long the conditioned stimulus will elicit the conditioned response
what is an example of using classical conditioning to study memory
- little Albert study
- 11 month Albert
- loud gong every time touched white rat , = produce fear response
- 1 week later: showed fear of rat
- 3 weeks later: refreshed conditioning
- 2 months: shows strong fear
what do results of classical condition studies reveal about infant memory development
Infants can retain memories (e.g., for associations) over a relatively long period of time (months).
little Albert study US, UR, CS, CR
-US: loud noise
-UR: fear to noise
-CS: white rat
CR: fear to rat
operant conditioning
For operant conditioning to work, the participant must remember the association between the behavior (lever press) and the outcome (food dispensed)
how is operant conditioning a test of memory
by examining how long the participant will remember the contingency (association) between the behavior and outcome
-how long from the initial conditioning date will the participant perform the behavior when placed in the initial conditioning context?
what is an example of using operant conditioning to study memory
-Mobile kicking studies
- baseline: initial rate of kicking -learning phase: baby learns association
- delay: distract baby
- test phase: see increased rate of kicking when returned to crib
what do results of operant condition studies reveal about infant memory development
- -2 months: retain memory for 2 days
- 6 months: 2 weeks
- 9 months: 6 weeks
-More evidence that infants within the first year of life can retain memories for a long time!
deferred imitation
-baby reproduces demonstrated action after a delay
what is an example of using deferred imitation to study memory
- Bauer
- show infants and toddlers series of actions (e.g. put a rattle together, hang up a bell, hit it)
- make child leave
- ask child to perform demonstrated action after delay
what do results of deferred imitation studies reveal about infant memory development
- 20-month-old children can recall these action sequences a year later
- Younger children can recall them too, but only with shorter delays
infant amnesia
- An inability to remember childhood events and experiences (autobiographical/episodic memories), especially before age 3
- Very few early memories that are not rich in content.
how do we know infant amnesia exists
-people who had a sibling born before the age of 3 couldn’t recall events about the birth of a sibling
5 hypothesis that explain why infant amnesia exists
- Memory formation before age 3 is limited
- brain development
- infants have no sense of self
- social conversation and telling stories
- encoding specificity
Memory formation is limited supporting evidence
-Actually there is evidence against this hypothesis (3 methods used to measure memory in infants)
But! We do know from these studies that: Infants capacity to retain memories over long delays improves with age
-So perhaps the memories that infants form just can’t be retained long enough to recall later in in life
brain development supporting evidence
- Infant memory is mostly implicit
- Implicit memory is supported by structures that mature earlier (striatum, cerebellum)
- Explicit memory is supported by prefrontal cortex, which is slow to develop
- Autobiographical memories (the kind we forget due to Infant Amnesia) are explicit. Thus, these memories may be poorly encoded due to immature prefrontal cortex in infancy
- The hippocampus may have a limited capacity to store early memories
- There’s a lots of new neurons and connections being built in the hippocampus over infancy and early childhood - the later ones may ‘overwrite’ or ‘rewire’ the old ones, ‘disrupting’ earlier memories
How does the New York Post Article relate to this hypothesis
- brains have to forget to develop
- New brain cells might crowd the territory of other neurons or even replace them altogether, which could in turn break or reconfigure the small circuits that likely store individual memories.”
- introducing neurogenesis in the hippocampus for adult mice, caused them to not be afford of the cage
infants have no sense of self supporting evidence
- Strong sense of self is not present until roughly 2 years old, and then continues to develop thereafter
- The sense of self is the critical thread linking autobiographical memories, which are the things we forget with infant amnesia
social conversation and telling stories supporting evidence
Children of parents who are “highly elaborative” in their conversations about events with their children have better autobiographical memories compared to children of parents who are “low elaborative”
encoding specificity supporting evidence
- memory is best retrieved in thee same form it was encoded
- Autobiographical memories tend to be verbal in nature, but many memories formed before age 3 are nonverbal.
how does the Simcock and Hayne article relate to this hypothesis
- Nonverbal retrieval is not dependent on vocabulary at encoding.
- Verbal retrieval IS dependent on vocabulary at encoding.
- Retrieval has to be specific to the type of encoding it was in
- Preverbal memories cannot be retrieved verbally!
how are children’s memories fallible (weak, flawed)
- Children’s memory skills continue to develop beyond infancy
- Children’s memories remain fragile in many ways
- Issues at all phases of memory: encoding, storage, retrieval
encoding issues…young’s children encoding …
- places greater emphasis on verbatim information, compared to gist. (Gist is easier to remember.)
- less complete due to
lesser knowledge - easily influenced by stereotypes.
how does knowledge help encoding
- Encoding is easier with prior knowledge
- helps identify what is important to encode
□ *lesser knowledge also affects retrieval given children
then have difficulty ruling out implausible events
storage issues …young children…
- more “suggestible”: more easily influenced by experiences that happen b/w encoding and recall (e.g., during storage)
-Easily influenced by “leading questions
- Have trouble distinguishing true stored events from events that were ‘imagined’ after encoding.
- time more easily degrades young children’s stored memories
retrieval issues
- Children remember more when asked specific questions vs. open-ended questions
- Children remember more when asked to recognize vs. recall
- Children remember more when encouraged to think deeply, and use multiple domains of communication (e.g., verbal, drawing pictures)
- Expectations of the questioner influence children’s reporting on remembered events.
- Children change their report of their memories when asked multiple times
