The dual-process signal-detection (DPSD) model assumes that recognition memory is based on recollection of qualitative information or on a signal-detection-based familiarity process. The model has proven useful for understanding results from a wide range of memory research, including behavioral, neuropsychological, electrophysiological, and…

The study attempted to determine whether the failure of Down Syndrome (DS) individuals to show the modality effect (the tendency to show better short-term memory for brief sequences of auditory rather than visual information) is due to the verbal-expressive demands of oral responding in memory tasks. DS, nonretarded (NR) and MR (non-DS mentally…

Since the 1990s was declared to be the decade of the brain, technology has advanced enough through MRIs, CAT Scans and PET Scans, that live brains have been able to be studied. Although this is still a relatively new field of study, what has been discovered thus far, has wide reaching implications for educators in the area of pedagogy and how to…

Ten autistic children (10 to 16 years old) exhibited significantly inferior recall of recent events compared to 10 normal and 10 mentally retarded controls. Memory correlated with a language measure in the autistic Ss and a nonverbal measure in the retarded Ss. (CL)

Four experiments examined effects of the number of features and feature relations on learning and long-term memory in 3-month olds. Findings suggested that memory load size selectively constrained infants' long-term memory for relational information, suggesting that in infants, features and relations are psychologically distinct and that memory…

Traces the origins of children's autobiographical memories, discussing research on infantile amnesia and young children's memory skills. Focuses on studies of children's long-term memory for autobiographical events that investigate delays of 1-2 years and delays of 4 years or more. Reports that a few studies have documented remarkably robust…

Three experiments investigated forgetting when a processing task is interpolated between presentation and recall of memory items with children ages 8-17 years. Findings showed consistent effects of the duration of the task, but no effects of its difficulty or similarity to memory material, and no developmental differences in task performance.…

Examined three- to seven-year olds' memory of a medical procedure, the invasive nature of which is similar to incidents of sexual abuse. Found that children remembered 88% of the procedure's component features initially and 83% after six weeks. Findings suggest that under some conditions, young children can provide accurate and detailed reports of…

Three experiments explored the effect of introducing novel information about a central target after a short delay on six-month-old's recognition of the original target, the novel exposure target, and a completely novel one. They found that the infants' memory of a central target is resistant to impairment by conflicting postevent information after…

Results of 3 experiments indicated that 13.5- and 16.5-month-old children recalled multiple sequences after a 1-week delay. Without cues, the recall of 16.5-month olds was facilitated by familiarity and by enabling relations; only enabling relations aided the 13.5-month olds' recall. With verbal cues, the recall of 13.5- and 16.5-month olds was…

A study examined serial-memory ability in 10 children (ages 4 to 6) with specific language impairment (SLI) compared to age and language peers. Under long-presentation conditions, the performance of children with SLI resembled that of their peers. Under short-presentation conditions, children with SLI performed worse that age-matched peers.…

Two studies with 80 5- and 8-year olds found that initial recognition tests elevated children's false-memory responses on delayed tests, and that false-memory creation exceeded true-memory inoculation in 5- and 8-year olds, producing net loss of accuracy over time. (MDM)

This study examined ability of first and fourth graders and adults to recall digits they heard while they were carrying out a visual task. Results suggested that each individual has a core memory capacity limit that can be observed in circumstances in which it cannot be supplemented by mnemonic strategies. The capacity limit increases with age…

Compared the power of two memory tasks to predict performance of 7- and 8-year-olds' on 2 phonological awareness measures. Found that the sound categorization had higher working memory demands than the phoneme deletion task. Working memory predicted independent variance only for sound categorization. Short-term memory did not account for…

This study compared the memory processes underpinning the performance of 19 children with visual impairments and 19 sighted children on the Digit Span subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales. No support was found for claims of the superior performance of children with visual impairments on the subtest nor of a greater awareness of memory…