General and context-specific encoding: A life-span development study.

Examined general and context-specific encoding across the life span, using the same procedure for all ages. Ss included 2nd- and 5th-grade schoolchildren, college students, and individuals aged 65+ yrs. Ss were asked to generate a personal word association to each of 24 target items prior to a surprise cued-recall test. The cues were either the S-generated associates or category labels. Ss at all ages recalled more associate-cued than category-cued items. Using the college students' performance as a baseline, 2nd graders performed equally poorly with both types of cues; 5th graders performed relatively more poorly with category than associate cues; and the older Ss performed relatively more poorly with associate than with category cues. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic encoding of superordinate and subordinate taxonomic categories in different populations.

Utilized D. D. Wickens's (1970) release from proactive interference (PI) task to assess automatic conceptual encoding at both the superordinate and subordinate category levels in 2 populations. Ss were 2nd and 4th graders from a low-socioeconomic-status Black community and 2nd and 4th graders from a middle-class White community. The principal factors in the study were list (superordinate: animals and foods; Subordinate 1: birds and mammals; Subordinate 2: fruits and vegetables), population, grade level, and condition (control vs shift) as between-Ss factors and trials (1–4) as a within-Ss factor. 48 children from each population and grade level served as Ss for each list. Results indicate significant PI build-up for all Grade?×?Population combinations on the 3 lists, with the exception of the 2nd graders on the superordinate list. Release from PI was observed at the 4th-grade level on the superordinate list and at both grade levels on Subordinate List 1 (birds and mammals). Generally speaking, reliable differences between the 2 populations in PI build-up and/or release were not detected. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retrieving for rehearsal: An analysis of active rehearsal in children's memory.

Two experiments with 96 2nd graders and 24 6th graders explored the operation of retrieval processes in Ss' active rehearsal strategies. Both experiments used free-recall tasks, in which Ss were given instructions in active rehearsal as well as supports that might facilitate the retrieval operation and thus enhance both rehearsal and recall performance. In Exp I, 2nd and 6th graders were given visual or auditory access to an 18-item stimulus-word list. Results show that, by providing 2nd graders with an opportunity to view previously presented words, rehearsal activity and recall increased substantially, whereas the performance of the 6th graders was not affected. In Exp II, presentation time and visual access to a similar 18-word list were manipulated for 2nd graders. Results show that the provision of extra time for an item enabled Ss to execute a more active rehearsal strategy. Extra time had only minimal effects on recall, except when it was combined with visual access to the items. Findings suggest that retrieval per se is not necessary for the beneficial effects of active rehearsal, if other procedures can be followed to permit the juxtaposition of several items in rehearsal. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical memory in poor and normal readers: Developmental differences in the use of category cues.

Examined whether differences between poor and normal reading children on lexical memory tasks may be attributed to semantic development, using 80 2nd and 6th graders. Ss were presented with 4 lists of taxonomic categories and were asked to recall items under (a) noncued and random conditions, with Ss instructed to recall as many items as possible and (b) cued and blocked conditions, with Ss told to recall items in a category. All Ss performed better with category cues. Group differences on category recall were more reliable at Grade 6, suggesting that facility in accessing taxonomic categories may differentiate poor and normal readers more reliably at older age levels. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rehearsal training and developmental differences in memory.

To examine the relation between age-related changes in the activity of rehearsal and corresponding changes in recall, 96 2nd and 6th graders were trained in a variety of rehearsal techniques in an overt rehearsal free recall task. Consistent with previous work, developmental differences in the number of items rehearsed together were observed when Ss were given no particular training. These rehearsal differences were related to corresponding changes in the recall of initially presented items. The recall of 2nd-grade noninstructed Ss was similar to that of Ss instructed to rehearse only 1 or 2 items together; the serial position curves of these groups indicated no primacy effects. In contrast, the recall of Ss who rehearsed several items together was similar to that of noninstructed 6th graders, with significant primacy effects being observed in these conditions. Second-grade Ss were able to adopt this active rehearsal strategy and to continue using it on a transfer task. The facilitative effects of active rehearsal were mediated neither by priority in recall given to early list items nor by enhanced subjective organization. Results are discussed in terms of multistore models of memory. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of depth of processing to free recall in second and fourth graders.

2nd and 4th graders studied a 40-word list under various task conditions designed to induce differential depth of encoding of the individual items. In a subsequent free-recall task, the depth of encoding manipulation affected the 4th graders' performance more than the 2nd graders'. Results support levels-of-processing theory of memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pigeon memory: Same/different concept learning, serial probe recognition acquisition, and probe delay effects on the serial-position function.

In Exp I, 2 White Carneaux pigeons were trained with sets of 70 pairs of color-slide stimuli in a same/different task to perform at least 88% correct; 6 different sets were used in successive acquisitions. Ss transferred same/different performance to novel stimuli with 60% accuracy following their 6 acquisitions; further training and daily changes in the training stimuli revealed 71% transfer to novel stimuli. In Exps II and III, 4 Ss were trained (88% criterion) in a serial-probe-recognition task with 3 list items, and the list length was increased with successive acquisitions to 4, 5, and 6 items. Their serial-position functions changed for different delays between the last list item and the test item revealing a recency effect (last items remembered well) for 0-sec delay, recency and primacy effects (first items remembered well) for 1- and 2-sec delays, and only a primacy effect for a 10-sec delay. Results are discussed in relation to human memory performance and theories of memory processing. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related changes in children's perceptions of aggression and withdrawal in their peers.

Collected peer ratings of aggression, withdrawal, and likeability using the Pupil Evaluation Inventory (PEI) with 326 1st graders, 356 4th graders, and 298 7th graders. Measures of the perceived similarity of all possible pairs of PEI items were derived by computing the frequency with which Ss at each grade level were concurrently nominated by their peers for both items comprising each pair of items. Multidimensional scaling was then employed to elucidate the structure underlying these indices of interitem similarity. Structure ratios denoting the cohesiveness of the clusters of aggression, withdrawal, and likeability items were computed from the results of these analyses. Data show that for Ss of all ages, aggression items and likeability items comprised highly cohesive categories of behaviors that were distinct from each other. Withdrawal items, in contrast, clustered poorly at Grade 1 but became an increasingly cohesive category of behaviors and increasingly distinct from aggression as grade level increased. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memorization processes involved in performance on the Visual-Sequential Memory subtest of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities.

Two studies investigated memory processes involved in performance on the Visual-Sequential Memory subtest of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities. In the 1st study, 64 2nd and 4th graders were administered this subtest under standard conditions. Ss were designated as either "labelers" or "nonlabelers" according to whether they used a stimulus labeling strategy to aid recall. Differences in performance between 2nd and 4th graders could be accounted for almost entirely in terms of the greater number of labelers in the 4th grade. In the 2nd study, labelers and nonlabelers from Exp I at each grade level were formally trained to use a labeling strategy. The training resulted in improved performance for all Ss. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of selective attention during visual search.

Monitored eye movements in 8 2nd graders, 8 6th graders, and 8 college students during a search task in which Ss were given different types of information about target location before trial onset. Whereas color cues facilitated search performance in the 2 older groups, form cues were less successful in facilitating search and significantly interfered with search relative to a control condition for the 2nd graders. Both facilitation and interference effects in overall search times were related to number of fixations rather than to average fixation during a trial. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal and peers' word associations in relation to children's false recognition errors.

Attempted to show that false recognition errors would be more frequently elicited by children's personal associates to a set of target words than by associates based on peer norms; Ss were 80 White middle-class 2nd and 5th graders (mean ages, 7.6 and 10.6 yrs, respectively). In Session 1 Ss gave oral associations to 34 words. In the 1st phase of Session 2, target words were each read aloud once and Ss were required to memorize them; in the 2nd phase Ss worked for 5 min on a maze task to prevent rehearsal; and in the final phase, a 40-item recognition list was read. Ss determined whether a word was one they had been asked to remember. As predicted, responses occurred with decreasing frequency to target, personal, peer, and control words. Consistent with the expectation that personal associates would more frequently elicit false recognition errors than would peer associates, the difference between personal and control responses was larger than the difference between peer and control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling effects in children on a successive word association test.

27 8th graders received a word association test involving successive tests on the same list with no instruction as to whether the responses to each given stimulus should be the same or different on successive tests. Wide individual differences were obtained in the level of consistency of responses. In a 2nd study, pairs of Ss were formed which consisted of 1 high and 1 low consistency S, as determined by a pretest. 127 7th and 8th graders were Ss. Each S was tested with a different list in the pair-wise situation, with 1 member observing the performance of the other before being tested himself. Significant matching occurred within pairs in Group H-L where a high consistency model preceded a low consistency O. Nonsignificant changes in the expected direction occurred for high consistency Os who followed low consistency models in Group L-H. The possibility that the pretest may have anchored the performance of the Os against the influence of the models was discussed. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading, memory, and metacognition.

Investigated relations among reading skills, metareading (knowledge about reading), memory, and metamemory (knowledge about memory) as they relate to reading ability (good vs poor readers), operativity, and grade level. 40 2nd graders (aged 7.25–9.83 yrs) and 40 4th graders (aged 9.42–22.00 yrs) were interviewed to assess the reading–memory variables. Significant but low correlations were obtained between metareading and reading, metamemory and memory, metareading and metamemory, and reading and memory. Significant effects of operativity were revealed on all dependent measures. Operative Ss had higher scores on the metareading and metamemory tasks, read at higher levels, and remembered more items on the memory tasks than did nonoperative Ss. Effects of grade level were revealed on most dependent measures. Fourth-grade Ss received higher scores on the metareading and metamemory tasks and read at higher levels than did 2nd-grade Ss. An interaction between operativity and grade level revealed that operative 2nd-grade and both groups of 4th-grade Ss made fewer total reading errors than did nonoperative 2nd-grade Ss. The effects of operativity, experience, and metacognition on reading and memory skills are discussed. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Auditory list memory and interference processes in monkeys.

Memory of 2 rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) was tested in a serial probe recognition task with lists of 4 natural or environmental sounds, different retention intervals, and different manipulations of interference. At short retention intervals, increasing the separation of list items reduced the primacy effect and produced a recency effect. Similar results were shown by increasing interference across lists through item repetitions or making the first 2 list items high-interference items. These results indicated that decreasing first-item performance reduced proactive interference on memory of the last list items. At long (20 sec) retention intervals, making the last list items of high interference reduced the recency effect, reduced retroactive interference, and produced a primacy effect. Taken together, interference plays a role in determining the primacy and recency effects of the serial-position function. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lexical ambiguity and children's word recognition.

Conducted 2 experiments to examine the word recognition processes of 2nd, 4th, and 6th graders. In Exp I, 72 Ss named target words that were primed by words that had more than 1 meaning. Targets were related either to the more or less frequent sense of the ambiguous prime or were unrelated to it. Findings indicate that older Ss were more likely than younger Ss to restrict processing of ambiguous words to the most frequent meaning. While younger Ss showed approximately equal facilitation for words related to either meaning, regardless of each one's relative frequency, 6th graders apparently retrieved only the most frequent meaning. Exp II, with 36 Ss, was similar to Exp I but included neutral primes and varied the interval between presentation of prime and target. Results show that all groups showed automatic retrieval of both meanings of the ambiguous word. For 6th graders, however, this retrieval was followed by a 2nd stage, in which attention was allocated to the more frequent meaning, maintaining it, while the less frequent meaning was inhibited. Overall data indicate that older children use meaning frequency to narrow the amount of information kept active following word recognition. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's concurrent use of rehearsal and organizational strategies.

This study examined whether children could benefit from the simultaneous use of two mnemonic strategies. In Experiment 1, 3rd and 6th graders were taught to use the rehearsal and organizational strategies of same- or different-aged peers. At both ages, Ss who used developmentally advanced techniques recalled more than those who sorted and rehearsed like younger children; moreover, use of both efficient strategies together increased recall additively. In Experiment 2, 3rd graders rehearsed in any way they wished while learning taxonomically related or unrelated items. With each type of materials, 4 groups differed in whether the items were left visible, in whether Ss were asked to sort, and, if so, in whether they were instructed to sort to "help them remember" or on the basis of meaning. Those Ss instructed to sort showed higher recall and more active rehearsal, regardless of type of sort instructions or items. Thus, the use of one strategy may elicit effective use of another. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory organization during children's repeated recall.

Presented a list of categorically related words to 20 2nd graders and 20 6th graders in a memory test. Multiple recall tests followed the initial presentation of words so that changes in memory organization could be assessed over recall attempts. Ss in both grades remembered many new words on later recall trials that they had not remembered on Trial 1. The proportions of new words recalled and the retrieval characteristics of these words were similar in both grades. Younger Ss, however, forgot many words during repeated recall, and older Ss did not. Different patterns of forgetting were correlated with different types of organizational strategies. Second graders recalled words in a sequential, rote manner with few transformations or rearrangements of words. Sixth graders, on the other hand, actively constructed larger categories or chunks of words over recall attempts. The spontaneous reconstruction of remembered information by 6th graders is interpreted as a manifestation of constructive memory-monitoring skills. Some potential advantages of a repeated recall paradigm for developmental research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The recognition of visual configuration and identity information by children and adults.

The tendency to rely on and the ability to remember configuration and identity information were examined in Exp I with 24 kindergartners, 3rd, and 6th graders, and paid graduate students and university employees. Ss saw, tachistoscopically, arrays of 4 Hebrew letters and, in one condition, made recognition choices between 2 incorrect arrays, one of which differed from the stimulus by items and the other by configuration. In 2 other conditions in which accurate response was permitted, ability to use configuration and item information independently was tested. All Ss tended to rely more on configuration than on identity information and were better able to use configuration than identity information. In a 2nd experiment with 19 Ss from the same age-groups as Exp I, it was established that the items could be remembered under explicit instructions to remember items and ignore configuration. By altering the configuration of items it was possible to produce item recognition decrements in younger, but not older, Ss. It is concluded that development aids visual processing, particularly through a functional integration of systems for handling identity and spatial information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's social sensitivity: Inferring emotions from conflicting cues.

48 preschoolers, 48 1st graders, and 48 6th graders answered questions and told stories about pictures containing (a) situational or facial cues alone, (b) situational and facial cues with congruent emotional implications, or (c) situational and facial cues with conflicting emotional implications. In a 4th condition, a narrative accompanied conflicting-cues pictures. The youngest Ss preferred to base inferences about emotions on facial expressions. This preference decreased with age. Explanations for this finding based on differential comprehension of cues and on the biasing effect of a narrative were ruled out. At all ages, Ss encoded both cues. They preserved in memory the emotional implications of situational cues but tended to reinterpret facial cues when there were conflicting situational cues. There were also developmental changes in the degree to which and the methods by which Ss reconciled the conflicting cues to emotion. Results are discussed in light of previous hypotheses about the development of social sensitivity, and an alternate view is advanced. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)