This research investigated whether episodic memory development can be explained by improvements in relational binding processes, involved in forming novel associations between events and the context in which they occurred. Memory for item-space, item-time, and item-item relations was assessed in an ethnically diverse sample of 151 children aged…

Previous research has suggested that fluency does not influence memory decisions until ages 7-8. In two experiments (n = 96 and n = 64, respectively), children, aged 4, 6, and 8 years (Experiments 1 and 2), and adults (Experiment 2) studied a list of pictures. Participants completed a recognition test during which each study item was preceded by a…

Research on the development of metamemory has focused primarily on children's understanding of the variables that influence how likely a person is to remember something. But metamemory also involves an understanding of why people occasionally misremember things. In this study, 5- and 6-year-olds (N = 38) were asked to decide whether another…

This meta-analysis summarizes 113 research reports worldwide (121 cross-sectional and 7 longitudinal studies) on age differences in ethnic, racial, or national prejudice among children and adolescents. Overall, results indicated a peak in prejudice in middle childhood (5-7 years) followed by a slight decrease until late childhood (8-10 years). In…

Processing the self-relevance of information facilitates recall. Similarly, processing close-other-related information facilitates recall to a lesser degree than processing self-relevant information. This memory advantage may be viewed as an index of the degree to which the representation of self is differentiated from representations of close…

Distinctiveness effects in children's (5-, 7-, and 11-year-olds) false memory illusions were examined using visual materials. In Experiment 1, developmental trends (increasing false memories with age) were obtained using Deese-Roediger-McDermott lists presented as words and color photographs but not line drawings. In Experiment 2, when items were…

Examined concepts of mental activities involved in acts of knowing in 54 children of 8-10 years and adults. Ten-year-olds and adults judged memory involvement to be the most important relation among mental activities. Eight-year-olds judged comprehension and attention according to the involvement of visual or verbal information. (RJC)

Two experiments investigated 18- to 30-month-old children's memory for the location of a hidden object. Memory performance was significantly better when the object was hidden within the natural environment as opposed to when hidden in a set of boxes. Older subjects effectively used a landmark cue as a memory aid. (Author/RH)

The prefrontal cortex modulates executive control processes and structurally matures throughout adolescence. Consistent with these events, prefrontal functions that demand high levels of executive control may mature later than those that require working memory but decreased control. To test this hypothesis, adolescents (9 to 20 years old)…

Examines preschool children's ability for advance planning and mishap prevention or remediation related to familiar events. Indicates that children three to five years old appear to use general event knowledge in constructing verbal plans. However, developmental differences in the quality of plans suggests that the ability of using general…

Examined memory functions in individuals with and without autism. Found that the group with autism performed significantly worse than the nonautistic group on temporal order memory, source memory, supraspan free recall, working memory and executive function but not on short- and long-term recognition, cued recall, or new learning ability. (MOK)

Examined the associations among speech perception, phonological awareness, naming speed, verbal memory, and word reading. Multiple measures were administered to 136 3rd- and 4th-grade children. Results indicated that naming speed was particularly highly associated with speech perception, whereas phonological awareness was substantially correlated…

Extends and replicates the 1948 Soviet study by Istomina that examined the age at which children use deliberate strategies to aid recall and the effect that task context has on remembering. Subjects were 3- to 7-year-old children. Istomina's results were not replicated in this study. (HOD)

Examined developmental differences in the effect of stereotype manipulations on the construction of new memories, and the relation between stereotyped activity preferences and memory for gender-related information among four-, six-, and eight-year olds. Contrary to expectations, stereotype manipulation effects interacted with gender; effects were…

Argues that the operating characteristics of perceiving and remembering provide a foundation for progress on detailing the processes through which knowledge is realized in real-time tasks and in detailing the processes of developmental change. Includes three examples to illustrate how forming developmental hypotheses in terms of perceiving and…