The Relationships between Memory Performance, Use of Simple Memory Strategies and Metamemory in Young Children

1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy A. Henry ◽  
Tricia Norman
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Span Task ◽  
Unexpected Result ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Memory Strategies ◽  
Relevant Variables ◽  
Strategy Variables

This study investigated the relationships between metamemory, the use of simple memory strategies and memory performance in children aged 4 to 5 years. Children carried out two memory tasks (memory span for pictures, free recall of toys), and their recall and use of strategies while carrying out these tasks was recorded. They also completed two metamemory tasks: predicting memory performance and responding to a nonverbal questionnaire concerning knowledge about memory-relevant variables. The metamemory questionnaire scores were significant predictors of memory performance in both tasks. In addition, some of the strategy variables were negative predictors of performance. Off-task behaviour reduced recall, as did naming (an unexpected result), for free recall of toys. Naming items at recall (but not at presentation) reduced recall in the memory span task. There was also some positive evidence that children who consistently named pictures at presentation had higher memory spans than children naming at recall only or using no strategies at all. It was concluded that both metamemory knowledge and the use of simple strategies are significantly related to memory performance in young children, but that these relationships are modest.

Short-Term Auditory Memory, Oral Perception, and Experimental Sound Learning

1969 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Locke
Keyword(s):  
Memory Span ◽  
Auditory Memory ◽  
Span Task ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Learning Framework ◽  
Sound Learning ◽  
Oral Perception

Ten children with high scores on an auditory memory span task were significantly better at imitating three non-English phones than 10 children with low auditory memory span scores. An additional 10 children with high scores on an oral stereognosis task were significantly better at imitating two of the three phones than 10 children with low oral stereognosis scores. Auditory memory span and oral stereognosis appear to be important subskills in the learning of new articulations, perhaps explaining their appearance in the literature as “etiologies” of disordered articulation. Although articulation development and the experimental acquisition of non-English phones have certain obvious differences, they seem to share some common processes, suggesting that the sound learning framework may be an efficacious technique for revealing otherwise inaccessible information.

scholarly journals Multilab Direct Replication of Flavell, Beach, and Chinsky (1966): Spontaneous Verbal Rehearsal in a Memory Task as a Function of Age

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 251524592110181
Author(s):  
Emily M. Elliott ◽  
Candice C. Morey ◽  
Angela M. AuBuchon ◽  
Nelson Cowan ◽  
Chris Jarrold ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Memory Task ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Continuous Increase ◽  
Verbal Rehearsal ◽  
Picture Memory ◽  
Spontaneous Production

Work by Flavell, Beach, and Chinsky indicated a change in the spontaneous production of overt verbalization behaviors when comparing young children (age 5) with older children (age 10). Despite the critical role that this evidence of a change in verbalization behaviors plays in modern theories of cognitive development and working memory, there has been only one other published near replication of this work. In this Registered Replication Report, we relied on researchers from 17 labs who contributed their results to a larger and more comprehensive sample of children. We assessed memory performance and the presence or absence of verbalization behaviors of young children at different ages and determined that the original pattern of findings was largely upheld: Older children were more likely to verbalize, and their memory spans improved. We confirmed that 5- and 6-year-old children who verbalized recalled more than children who did not verbalize. However, unlike Flavell et al., substantial proportions of our 5- and 6-year-old samples overtly verbalized at least sometimes during the picture memory task. In addition, continuous increase in overt verbalization from 7 to 10 years old was not consistently evident in our samples. These robust findings should be weighed when considering theories of cognitive development, particularly theories concerning when verbal rehearsal emerges and relations between speech and memory.

Evaluation of Pedestrian Safety Education Programs for Young Children: A Review of Methodologies

1995 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Gillam ◽  
Mark Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Selection Bias ◽  
Pedestrian Safety ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Safety Education ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
School Based ◽  
Relevant Variables ◽  
Methodological Difficulties

A review of the research methodologies used to evaluate the effectiveness of pedestrian education programs for children is presented in this paper. Since pedestrian injuries are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among young children it is necessary to identify and evaluate interventions which will reduce the incidence and severity of these injuries. There are, however, many methodological difficulties to be overcome by researchers attempting to establish the merit of such programs. For example, selection bias in school-based programs, lack of strict criteria for follow-up of all subjects, and an inability to control for confounding because relevant variables are not rigorously monitored are just some of the methodological limitations. This paper identifies a number of limitations and aspects of evaluation which are of ten omitted and suggests ways in which these problems may be addressed in future research.

scholarly journals Effects of valent image-based secondary tasks on verbal working memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 1440-1456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phillip L Morgan ◽  
Craig Williams ◽  
Fay M Ings ◽  
Nia C Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Free Recall ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
International Affective Picture System ◽  
Secondary Tasks ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
Task Interruption ◽  
Lower Valence

Two experiments examined if exposure to emotionally valent image-based secondary tasks introduced at different points of a free recall working memory (WM) task impair memory performance. Images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) varied in the degree of negative or positive valance (mild, moderate, strong) and were positioned at low, moderate and high WM load points with participants rating them based upon perceived valence. As predicted, and based on previous research and theory, the higher the degree of negative (Experiment 1) and positive (Experiment 2) valence and the higher the WM load when a secondary task was introduced, the greater the impairment to recall. Secondary task images with strong negative valance were more disruptive than negative images with lower valence at moderate and high WM load task points involving encoding and/or rehearsal of primary task words (Experiment 1). This was not the case for secondary tasks involving positive images (Experiment 2), although participant valence ratings for positive IAPS images classified as moderate and strong were in fact very similar. Implications are discussed in relation to research and theory on task interruption and attentional narrowing and literature concerning the effects of emotive stimuli on cognition.

EXPRESS: On the Pervasive Effect of Word Frequency in Metamemory

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110533
Author(s):  
Pedro Simão Mendes ◽  
Monika Undorf
Keyword(s):  
Free Recall ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Judgments Of Learning ◽  
Free Recall Test ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Performance Judgments

Predictions of one’s future memory performance – judgments of learning (JOLs) – are based on the cues that learners regard as diagnostic of memory performance. One of these cues is word frequency or how often words are experienced in the language. It is not clear, however, whether word frequency would affect JOLs when other cues are also available. The current study aims to close this gap by testing whether objective and subjective word frequency affect JOLs in the presence of font size as an additional cue. Across three experiments, participants studied words that varied in word frequency (Experiment 1: high and low objective frequency; Experiment 2: a whole continuum from high to low objective frequency; Experiment 3: high and low subjective and objective frequency) and were presented in a large (48pt) or a small (18pt) font size, made JOLs, and completed a free recall test. Results showed that people based their JOLs on both word frequency and font size. We conclude that word frequency is an important cue that affects metamemory even in multiple-cue situations.

Working Memory Span Task

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Cybele Raver ◽  
◽  
Clancy Blair ◽  
Michael Willoughby
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Span Task

scholarly journals The VNTR of the AS3MT gene is associated with brain activations during a memory span task and their training-induced plasticity

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan Zhao ◽  
Qiumei Zhang ◽  
Xiongying Chen ◽  
Yang Li ◽  
Xiaohong Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neural Plasticity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Memory Span ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Variable Number Tandem Repeat ◽  
Brain Activation ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Span Task ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies

Abstract Background The Arsenic (+3 oxidation state) methyltransferase (AS3MT) gene has been identified as a top risk gene for schizophrenia in several large-scale genome-wide association studies. A variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) of this gene is the most significant expression quantitative trait locus, but its role in brain activity in vivo is still unknown. Methods We first performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan of 101 healthy subjects during a memory span task, trained all subjects on an adaptive memory span task for 1 month, and finally performed another fMRI scan after the training. After excluding subjects with excessive head movements for one or more scanning sessions, data from 93 subjects were included in the final analyses. Results The VNTR was significantly associated with both baseline brain activation and training-induced changes in multiple regions including the prefrontal cortex and the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex. Additionally, it was associated with baseline brain activation in the striatum and the parietal cortex. All these results were corrected based on the family-wise error rate method across the whole brain at the peak level. Conclusions This study sheds light on the role of AS3MT gene variants in neural plasticity related to memory span training.

Syntactic categories in the speech of young children: the case of the determiner

1996 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian M. Pine ◽  
Helen Martindale
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Phrase Structure ◽  
Syntactic Category ◽  
Positive Evidence ◽  
Children's Speech ◽  
Limited Scope ◽  
Better Than

ABSTRACTThere has been a growing trend in recent years towards the attribution of adult-like syntactic categories to young language-learning children. This is based, at least in part, on studies which claim to have found positive evidence for syntactic phrase structure categories in young children's speech. However, these claims contradict the findings of previous research which suggest that the categories underlying children's early multi-word speech are much more limited in scope. The present study represents an attempt to reconcile the findings of these different lines of research by focusing specifically on Valian's (1986) criteria for attributing the syntactic category of determiner to young children. The aim is, firstly, to replicate Valian's results regarding her determiner criteria on a new sample of seven children between the ages of 1;20 and 2;6; secondly, to investigate the extent to which children show overlap in the contexts in which they use different determiner types; and, thirdly, to compare this with a controlled measure of the overlap shown by competent adult speakers. The results suggest that Valian's criteria for attributing a syntactic determiner category are too generous and could be passed by children with a relatively small amount of limited scope knowledge. They also provide at least some evidence that a limited scope formula account of children's early determiner use may fit the data better than an adult-like syntactic account.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document