Does category representation change in the course of development? And if so, how and why? The current study attempted to answer these questions by examining category learning and category representation. In Experiment 1, 4-year-olds, 6-year-olds, and adults were trained with either a classification task or an inference task and their…

In any learning situation, children must decide the level of generality with which to encode information. Cues to generality may affect children's memory for different components of a learning episode. In this research, we investigated whether 1 cue to generality, generic language, affects children's memory for information about social categories…

Three alternative mechanisms for age-related decline in memory search have been proposed, which result from either reduced processing speed (global slowing hypothesis), overpersistence on categories (cluster-switching hypothesis), or the inability to maintain focus on local cues related to a decline in working memory (cue-maintenance hypothesis).…

Under what conditions will people generalize and remember observed social information? Preschool- (n = 44) and young school-age (n = 46) children and adults (n = 40) heard short vignettes describing characters' actions and motives on a single occasion. Characters were introduced using either proper names or category labels. Test questions asked…

In a classification task, preschoolers matched a target stimulus with a conventional category, a visually similar item that cut across conventional categories, or an unrelated item. Items were presented in picture, verbal, and picture-verbal conditions. In all conditions, conventional classifications outnumbered visual ones, and this difference…

Early and late formal-operational adolescents having similar ages and IQs were presented tasks to assess their use of organizational memory strategies: multitrial free recall of unrelated and categorized words and a sorting task followed by free recall of the sorted words. (Author/SS)

In this study, third and sixth graders were tested in a recognition memory task with short lists of items from either one or two categories to investigate the influence of categorical information on retrieval processes. (Author/SB)

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that scripts (event schemas) provide a basis for categorical structures in semantic memory. Significantly better memory and organization were achieved on slot-filler lists than on either taxonomic or complementary lists, suggesting that slot-filler categories are more available in preschoolers' semantic…

Three studies examined early development of recall. Children between 2 years 9 months and 5 years of age were tested on nine-item lists containing three objects from each of three conceptual categories or nine objects for nine different conceptual categories. (Author/SS)

Sixty-four children in grades 2 and 5 were asked to recall items from six successively presented sets of categorized pictorial stimuli using one of four types of retrieval cues. Significant effects of grade level and type of cue (favoring subcategory cues) were found. (Author/JMB)

The development of the ability to use taxonomic, phonemic and sense impression categories as dimensions of encoding was investigated using third and fifth graders and college students. (ED)

Examined the presence or absence of class inclusion and hierarchical classification skills in relation to organizational memory strategies in kindergarten and first grade children. (ED)

Two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that category recall is related to the quantity conservation of mass, weight, and volume. The predicted association between conservation level and category recall was observed. (JMB)

Examined developmental change in category representation in the first year of life. Experiment 1 tested infants of three, five, and seven months in a visual recognition memory procedure. Results indicated change in the nature but not the structure of infant form categories. Experiment 2 ruled out a priori preferences as the basis for findings of…