Topic 9: Memory in Childhood

Question 1

What is childhood amnesia?

Answer 1

an inability to remember events from the early years of life.

Question 2

Why do we have childhood amnesia?

Answer 2

autobiographical memories depend on maturation of the hippocampus and neocortical regions of the brain - takes place around 2 years old

language helps encode memories - obviously not developed when a baby.

Question 3

What is one strategy that can push back childhood amnesia by a year or so?

Answer 3

Parent-child conversations about past, reminiscent events. - can also explain cultural differences in childhood amnesia.

Question 4

What are executive functions?

Answer 4

mental operations that enable us to coordinate our thoughts and behaviours using the processes of planning, working memory and response inhibition.

Question 5

What is inhibition?

Answer 5

the ability to suppress intrusive thoughts and behaviours

e.g. in Piaget’s A not B task, infant must keep in their working memory the last place where they saw a toy hidden. If they can’t keep this location in mind, they soon forget where the toy was placed.
planning and memory alone are not enough, as most tasks have many distractions that have to be ignored. so need to develop inhibition.

Question 6

What is planning, working memory and response inhibition supported by in the brain?

Answer 6

circuitry in the prefrontal cortex.

Question 7

What are examples of long term memory?

Answer 7

procedural or implicit knowledge – the infant does not need to consciously reflect on their experiences. e.g. riding a bike.

deferred imitation paradigm - where the infant imitates an event demonstrated some time earlier. e.g. from adults/parents.

Question 8

What is an example of elicited imitation?

Answer 8

When an older baby is shown a sequence of actions and then copies the actions in the right order.