week 11 - memory development Flashcards
What is infantile amnesia?
the inability of adults to recall autobiographical memories from the first 3-4 years of life
What are some proposed explanations for infantile amnesia?
- Freud’s theory of repression of traumatic early childhood events
- the need for language to form autobiographical memories
- early memories being coded into physical action and sensation, making them dificult to translate into language later
- the cognitive sense of self emerging around age 2, which may be necessary to retrieve autobiographical memory
- a lack of knowledge about the world and a tendency for young children to focus on similarities, forming schemas or scripts, which are not good retrieval cues
What is Simcock & Hayne’s (2002) Magic shrinking machine experiment?
- 27, 33, and 39 month olds
- found that children showed good non-verbal memory, but could only describe it using words they had at the time of encoding
- suggests an inability to translate early preverbal experiences into language
What is the information processing approach to memory?
a model that proposes memory involves a sensory register, short term (working) memory, and a long term memory, with processes for attention, encoding, and retrieval
What developmental limitations did Brainerd (1983) identfy in information processing?
limitations in information processing including encoding, computational, retrieval, storage and work-space limitation
What is the role of attention in memory?
for information to be processed, it must be attended to. attention is a state of alertness and the focus on specific aspects of the environment
What did Ruff & Lawson (1990) find about attention to stimuli in toddlers?
showed an increate in attention paid to stimuli as age increaes in 1-3 year olds
what did Vurpillot (1968) find about how children explore their environment?
- children under 5 examine a few aspects of their environment, make a few comparisons and make lots of errors
- children older than 6 are more likely to examine pairs. children from 6-9 years develop strategies to compare all aspects of an environment
What are some encoding strategies for memory?
- rehersal: repeating information
- organisation: linking information together
- elaboration: using associations to aid recall
What did Flavell et al. (1966) discover about rehersal and memory in children?
older children rehearsed more and recalled more
What did Moely et al. (1969) find about how older children approach memorization tasks?
older children rearrange pictures into categories when asked to memorise them
What did Foley et al. (1993) discover about the effectiveness of unusual associations on memory?
the more unusual the association, the more likely it will aid memory in children
What did Buckhalt et al. (1976) demonstrate about different types of elaborations?
active elaborations are more helpful for memory than static ones
How does memory retrieval develop?
similar to encoding, it develops gradually
What did Kreutzer et al. (1975) discover about memory strategies in children?
older children were better at generating strategies
what did Kobasigawa (1974) discover about how children use cue cards for recall?
older children use them more effectively
What did Keeney et al. (1967) discover about teaching rehersal strategies to young children?
6 year olds can be taught to use rehearsal, but the taught strategy might use up a child’s limited processing capacity
what is megacognition?
a person’s awareness of their own cognitive abilities and limitations
How did Smith et al. (2003) define metacognition?
a persons awareness of his or her own cognitive abilities and limitations
What did Flavell et al. (1970) study using a card memory task?
children’s awareness of their memory limitations
What is source memory?
memory for information about how a memory was required, including perceptual, temporal, and emotional information
How did Schacter et al. (1991) define source memory?
memory for information about how a memory is acquired
What did Johnson et al. (1996) find about the direction of attention and source memory?
the direction of attention, towards self or others, affects source monitoring and recognition memory
What did Kovacs & Newcombe (2006) discover about self-focus and other-focus on memory?
self-focus improves recognition memory but reduces source accuracy, while other-focus improves source accuracy but reduces recognition memory
Who developed the model of working memory with the visuo-spatial sketch-pad, phonological loop and central executive?
Baddeley & Hitch (1974)
According to Baddeley & Hitch (1974), what are the components of working memory?
- visuo-spatial sketchpad: stores visual and spatial information
- phonological loop: stores speech-based information
- central executive: controls and coordinates mental activities
What is the profile for children with working memory deficits described by Gathercole (2008)?
children with working memory deficits are slow to learn in maths and reading, struggle with structured tasks, and have problems with tasks requiring storage and processing. they often appear to have attention problems
How are working memory deficits identified?
using forward/backward digit span tests, corsi block tests, the working memory test battery for children, the automated working memory assessment, and classroom observations
What did Holmes et al. (2009) find about working memory training in children?
it showed improvements in working memory tasks, but limited generalization to academic performance
What did Dunning et al. (2013) find about adaptive working memory training?
adaptive working memory training is associated with gains in verbal working memory tasks, but these gains do not extend to classroom tasks
What is suggestibility in the context of memory?
the tendency to change memory or beliefs in response to questioning
how did Ceci & Bruck (1995) define suggestibility>
the tendency to change memory or beliefs in response to questioning
What did Julian Varendonck (1911)’s studies demonstrate about childrens testimony?
the suggestibility of childrens testimony using leading questions
What are some reasons that children are considered unreliable witnesses?
children encode less detail, have weaker memory traces, and are prone to memory distortions and have retrieval dificulties
What did Marin et al. (1979) discover about how children recall information compared to adults?
younger children recall less information in free recall but what they do remember is generally accurate, while older children provide more information and more errors
What is the misinformation effect?
a memory distortion that occurs when post-event information is blended with the original memory
What did Leictman & Ceci (1995)’s ‘sam stone’ study demonstrate about suggestibility?
children can be suggestible, even maintaining false memories when probed
What are the implications of suggestibility for testimony?
closed yes/no questions are problematic for young children, who may try to answer even when they dont understand. Open ended questions are safer
According to Miller & Seier (1994), what may cause children’s suggestibility
children’s suggestibility may be due to encoding less information
What did Roberts (2000) suggest about source monitoring and suggestibility?
source monitoring difficulties contribute to children’s suggestibility
What are some factors that influence children’s suggestibility?
authority of the interviewer, repetiton of questions, a desire to please, demographic variables, cognitive variables, emotional variables
What are the key elements of the step-wise and cognitive interview techniques
- step-wise technique (ABE, 2022): uses a funnel approach, rapport building, free recall and general to specific questioning
- cognitive interview (Fisher & Geiselman, 1992): emphasizes context reinstatement, reporting everything, changing order, and changing perspective
What are some recommendations for interviewing children?
build rapport with the child, use open-ended questions, and avoid repetition of questions
