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The tortoise and the hare: Predictive relations between later and early recall
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THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE: PREDICTIVE RELATIONS BETWEEN LATER AND EARLY RECALL Leslie J. Carver and Patricia J. Bauer Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, 5 1 E. River Road Minneapolis, MN 55455 Infants as young as 9 months of age have been shown to recall single object-specific actions. This finding raises questions as to the limits of long-term recall ability in children of this young age: (a) are infants able to remember multi-step event sequences, such as those tested in older infants, and (b) are they able to remember over significantly longer delays? Meltzoff (1988) found that about 50% of 9-month-olds have been shown to recall events after a delay. This finding is consistent with the suggestion that 9 months represents an important watershed in recall ability. However, equally likely is the possibility that the pattern is reflective of enduring individual differences in recall ability. To test these possibilities, we re-tested infants who had been involved in a long-term recall study using the elicited imitation procedure. After &lays of 3 and 6 months, infants showed evidence of recall for events they had seen at 9 months of age. These results indicate that 9-month-olds are able to recall the order of multi-step events, as do older infants. In addition, the infants recalled over a far longer interval than has previously been shown. Finally, infants’ early performance was not predictive of later performance, suggesting that early differences in recall ability are due to uneven development within the population rather than enduring individual differences in mnemonic ability. This finding supports the hypothesis that an important transition in memory development may take place at around 9 months of age.
THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE: PREDICTIVE RELATIONS BETWEEN LATER AND EARLY RECALL Leslie J. Carver and Patricia J. Bauer Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, 5 1 E. River Road Minneapolis, MN 55455 Infants as young as 9 months of age have been shown to recall single object-specific actions. This finding raises questions as to the limits of long-term recall ability in children of this young age: (a) are infants able to remember multi-step event sequences, such as those tested in older infants, and (b) are they able to remember over significantly longer delays? Meltzoff (1988) found that about 50% of 9-month-olds have been shown to recall events after a delay. This finding is consistent with the suggestion that 9 months represents an important watershed in recall ability. However, equally likely is the possibility that the pattern is reflective of enduring individual differences in recall ability. To test these possibilities, we re-tested infants who had been involved in a long-term recall study using the elicited imitation procedure. After &lays of 3 and 6 months, infants showed evidence of recall for events they had seen at 9 months of age. These results indicate that 9-month-olds are able to recall the order of multi-step events, as do older infants. In addition, the infants recalled over a far longer interval than has previously been shown. Finally, infants’ early performance was not predictive of later performance, suggesting that early differences in recall ability are due to uneven development within the population rather than enduring individual differences in mnemonic ability. This finding supports the hypothesis that an important transition in memory development may take place at around 9 months of age.