1-029 - A new approach to memory development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

How memory develops is a fundamental question in child development. Recent findings on the neural bases of memory have driven the field to re-evaluate patterns of developmental change in memory function. Here we explore the idea that memory goes through a protracted period of development, building up to adult levels of representational flexibility in interesting, important, and sometimes counter intuitive ways. Presentation 1 focuses on sleep/wake-delays in infants and toddlers showing that sleep-dependent generalization results from forgetting during sleep in infants. These findings are predicted by immature memory structures whereas retention of specific information after sleep in preschoolers occurs only after memory structures reach a requisite level of maturity. Presentation 2 traces the development of memory for objects in contexts in typical and atypical populations, revealing contributions of different memory systems across development with younger children relying on more immature memory systems and older children relying on more mature systems in typical development. In contrast, atypical learners rely on immature systems throughout development. Presentation 3 investigates the development of flexible, context-independent retrieval across childhood, pre-adolescence, and adulthood finding that hippocampal involvement increases across development, consistent with the view that older children rely on more mature memory structures. Overall, we provide insight concerning a very different view of memory development, one that predicts qualitative differences in memory at different developmental time points, driven by the learning and memory systems that are emerging in the brain. The discussant will discuss the implications of these findings for theories of memory development.

Sub Unit

• Attention, Learning, Memory

Chair

• Rebecca Gomez, University of Arizona

Discussant

• Nora S Newcombe, Temple Univ

Individual Presentations

• Evidence for qualitatively different memory processes in infancy vs. early childhood - Presenting Author: Rebecca Gomez, University of Arizona

• Remembering things in, and out of, context across typical and atypical development - Presenting Author: Jamie Ogline Edgin, University of Arizona; Goffredina Spano, University of Arizona; Candace Rhoads, University of Arizona

• Developmental Differences in the Flexibility of Episodic Memory - Presenting Author: Simona Ghetti, Univ of California Davis; Dana DeMaster, University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center; Christine A Coughlin, University of California, Davis