Four experiments examined the effects of reenactment on 18-month-olds' event memory. Results indicated that reenacting novel activities in a laboratory playroom improved event memory. Reenactment was more effective after a time delay, and the effects of timing of reenactment were more pronounced after a six-month delay. Reenacting half of the…

In two studies of knowledge about the properties and processes of memory for the times of past events, 178 children from 5 through 13 years of age and 40 adults answered questions about how they would remember times on different scales, how temporal memory is affected by retention interval, and the usefulness of different methods. The adults…

Two experiments examined whether 18-month-olds learn from emotions directed to a third party. Infants watched an adult perform actions on objects, and an Emoter expressed Anger or Neutral affect toward the adult in response to her actions. The Emoter then became neutral and infants were given access to the objects. Infants' actions were influenced…

Reports four experiments in which infants' recognition memory (defined by novelty preferences) was found to be improved by providing five- to seven-month-old infants with discriminable but related targets during the familiarization period. Facilitation of recognition was found for both photographs of faces and abstract patterns. (JMB)

To determine whether the frequently found short-term memory deficits in poor readers reflect a lack of ability or inclination to use efficient task strategies, the performances of second-grade good and poor readers were compared on a task which allowed direct observation of the use of verbal rehearsal as a mnemonic strategy. (Author/JMB)

Infants who cried in response to a reward shift evidenced no retention of the contingency 1 week later but did have excellent retention at one day. Reactivation treatment alleviated forgetting at three weeks. Results indicate that crying in response to violation of a reward-expectation habit functions as an amnesic agent to produce accelerated…

Investigates the nature of and changes in early memory demands and assesses the relationship between memory demands and memory performance among 10 children 30 and 42 months old and their mothers. Results suggested that mothers' memory demands have an impact on children's memory performance--providing at least partial support for Vygotsky's…

Examines the development of a general event representation and the relationship between general and specific event memories among kindergarten children who were interviewed about the school-day routine four times during the first three months of school. (Author/RH)

In three studies, 12-month-old infants were familiarized either tactually or visually with objects and were then tested for visual recognition memory using either (1) the familiar and a novel object, (2) colored pictures of the objects, or (3) outline drawings of the objects. (Author/MP)

Three experiments examined the notion that children's primacy and recency in the probe-type pictorial memory task are related to the spatial distinctiveness of the "leftmost" and "rightmost" items presented. Data suggest that preschoolers and older children alike are able to code temporal order along with the corresponding…

Tested the persistence over 24 hours of reward-expectation habits in infants. A comparison was made between the responses of two groups of infants (infants with a history of reinforcement with large, complex mobiles, and infants with no prior history of reinforcement with mobiles) on a task reinforced by a small mobile. (Author/SS)

Reports an experiment with five-year-old children which tested the hypothesis that a change in affect between input and test interferes with performance in a nominally noncued free recall test but not with performance on a cued recall test. (JMB)

Children who had received training in sorting pictures of men and women, and in sorting occupations according to rules that countered gender stereotypes, exhibited a more egalitarian response in subsequent measures of gender stereotyping and showed superior memory for counterstereotypic information in stories than did other children. (BC)

Autonomic responses of 5- to 10-year-old children were measured while the children watched a videotape in which a doctor and child expressed negative, neutral, or positive affect. For 5- and 6-year-old children, autonomic responses were greatest while watching, and errors in subsequent memory tasks greatest after watching, the negative affect…