The memory abilities of adults (N=20) with Down Syndrome (DS) were compared to subjects matched on age and IQ and on age alone. Three memory tasks were employed: facial recognition, free recall of pictures and words, and cued recall of separate or interacting pictures. In DS individuals, memory was improved primarily by practice and interactive…

Discusses connectionist techniques that can be used for modeling perception, memory, and language processing, concentrating on a class of network with dual-weight connections in which each connection has both short- and long-term weight and describes a novel architecture in which the short- and long-term weights are independent. (45 references)…

Examined the long-term retention of 216 preschoolers, half of whom received a single slide presentation and while the other half received consecutive presentations until they learned the material to criterion. Exposure to misleading information 3 weeks after the presentation encouraged the preschoolers to report misinformation 4 weeks after the…

The genetic and environmental causes of the phenotypic association between reading and verbal short-term memory (VSTM) were analyzed using data from the Colorado Reading Project for 446 twin pairs. Results of bivariate behavioral genetic analyses indicate that both reading ability and VSTM are highly heritable. (SLD)

This review considers aspects of normal mental storage and retrieval, storage and retrieval in disordered word finding, possible causes of word finding disorders, and clinical implications in both storage and retrieval components. Implications call for attention to increasing word knowledge, storage strength, naming accuracy and speed, retrieval…

The memory, processing speed, and articulation rate of 24 9 year olds and 24 adults were measured. Results supported a model in which individuals execute cognitive processes more rapidly as they grow older. In addition, age contributes to more rapid rehearsal of words, which yields more accurate recall. (BG)

A total of 451 adults participated in 2 studies of the causes of age differences that occur in cognitive performance when tasks increase in complexity. Results support the hypothesis that more complex cognitive tasks place greater demands on a working memory resource that declines as age increases. (LB)

Examined what adolescents (n=43) remembered from viewing videotapes about careers. Compared two videotaped career presentations, one produced with explicit intent of enhancing visual and experiential content, other widely used in counseling centers. Students preferred former, although there were no differences in number of visual or verbal…

Replies to Guttentag's commentary on Brainerd and others' research on forgetting. Discusses measurement of forgetting, differentiation of storage from retrieval factors, and ramifications of findings for strategic or process theories of memory development. Considers the role of research on forgetting in child development research. (BC)

The performance of 53 younger adults (mean age 20.7) and 52 older adults (mean age 68.3) was compared in a memory task involving pictures, words, and pictures-plus-words. Results showed (1) significantly higher recall scores for younger adults; (2) equivalent picture superiority effect for both groups; and (3) decline in older adults' performance…

Children at ages three, five, and seven provided reports of their physical examinations immediately following the checkup and after delay of either one, three, or six weeks, or only after three weeks. Retention of event was extensive and accurate and not significantly affected by the time delays. Recall of seven-year olds was greater than that of…

Building upon a previous study, examined 6-, 8-, and 10-year-old and adult witnesses' memories of an event experienced 2 years earlier. Found that children were less consistent than adults across sessions of yes-no questions, less accurate in responses to open-ended questions, and more likely to fabricate answers to a question about a man's…

Three experiments measured 2.5- and 3.5-year-olds' long-term retention of object-location pairings. The subjects were provided with reinforcing information three weeks after the initial exposure and tested four weeks after initial exposure. It was found that this reinstatement (1) improved children's long-term retention; (2) affected both…

Fifteen deaf and 11 hearing children (ages 8-10) witnessed slides depicting a wallet theft and were interviewed using a free recall approach followed by increasingly directive questions. Although accuracy of the two groups did not differ in free recall, deaf children provided less accurate responses to directive questions, whereas accuracy of the…

Discusses the findings of a study that involves the testing of the pharmaceutical Ampakines on laboratory rats. Rats administered Ampakines learn remarkably quickly to navigate new mazes. The question now is does the drug make the rats alert or memory enhanced. Implications for treatment in humans is discussed. (ZWH)