Are children better than adults in acquiring new skills ("how-to" knowledge) because of a difference in skill memory consolidation? Here we tested the proposal that, as opposed to adults, children's memories for newly acquired skills are immune to interference by subsequent experience. The establishment of long-term memory for a…

Several judgment and decision-making tasks are assumed to involve memory functions, but significant knowledge gaps on the memory processes underlying these tasks remain. In a study on 568 adults between 25 and 80 years of age, hypotheses were tested on the specific relationships between individual differences in working memory, episodic memory,…

Long-term recall memory was assessed in 14- and 16 month-olds using a nonverbal method requiring subjects to reenact a past event from memory. The results demonstrated significant deferred imitation after delays of two and four months, and that the toddlers retained and imitated multiple acts. (MDM)

Children, ages 3 and 5, examined a "sick" teddy bear. Interviews with real props, toy props, or verbal prompts were conducted three days and one year later. After three days, real items and toys facilitated memory compared to verbal prompts, but reports with toys were less accurate than both. After one year, real items still helped…

Explored whether developmental changes in the structure and coherence of preschoolers' personal narratives might provide some clues about childhood amnesia. Suggests that while children's narratives become more elaborate, more detailed, and more complex over the preschool years, children's recall of the same events over time is remarkably stable,…

Two studies examined 6- and 9-year-old children's recall about events in which they had participated one to two years earlier. Found that amount of information reported in free recall decreased over the one- or two-year delays. For 6-year olds, there was a small decrease in accuracy of free recall. Reinstating specific cues maintained recall, but…

Explored preschoolers' eyewitness testimony under conditions designed to maximize or degrade the quality of their event reports. Found that 3- to 4-year olds were highly accurate when questioned nonsuggestively about an engaging experience after a short delay, and could provide substantial information when prompted. However, they made many…

It is argued that a Jean Piaget anecdote about an alleged memory implanted in a young child leading to both a visual and semantic memory that persists despite disconfirming evidence is entirely different than the recovered memory debate, which is about the alleged introduction of memories to grown adults. (CR)

Used path analysis in two experiments to examine possibility that age difference in infants' long-term retention were artifacts of correlated differences in learning rates or learning opportunities. Found that developmental declines in forgetting rates between 12 and 18 months were independent of developmental differences in learning. Age…

Compared toys and real items as props for facilitating children's reporting of an event. Indicates that the effects of props depend on the nature of the items and the age of the children with whom they are used. Suggests that real items may provide one means of supporting recall, to enable children to provide their most complete and accurate…

Eight-, eleven-, and nineteen-year-olds' memory for spatial locations over an extended time period was assessed. Study suggested that adults remember spatial location information better than children over time because adults code location information in more organized representations and use better retrieval cues. (RWB)

Examined the recall of 13-, 16-, and 20-month-old toddlers of laboratory events after delays of 1-3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Found that all toddlers remembered the events regardless of age or delay interval. Language ability at the time of exposure to the events predicted verbal expression of the memory after the delay. (MDM)

Examined three-year olds' difficulty in recalling a false belief immediately after they discover the true state of affairs. Challenges the argument that children are genuinely amnesic and their false belief is deleted and no longer available for retrieval. Suggests that three-year-olds have been much underestimated in their capacity to undertake…

Examined the degree to which young children can use anatomically detailed dolls to show what they remembered of their experience in a case of suspected sexual abuse. Very young children had difficulty appreciating and exploiting a representational relation between themselves and a doll. Consequently, they provided more information verbally and…

Examined the conditions under which children's memory is resistant to suggestibility versus vulnerable to suggestibility. Results suggest that children have more accurate memory for an event that occurred to them frequently, and that they are less vulnerable to suggestive influences such as biased interviewing procedures than they would be for an…