1-163 - Memory and the Developing Brain: Sampling Behavior and Defining Constructs

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The word “memory” stands in for a spate of constructs and component cognitive processes that enable humans to learn and act based on experiences beyond the here and now. This is true for memory across the lifespan, however memory in children is particularly complex, as it emerges from a dynamic landscape of perceptual, cognitive, and neural development. The presentations in this symposium will examine memory in childhood as it relates to shifting cognitive capacities and the developing brain.

The first presentation highlights how developmental differences in attention, viewing behavior, and early perceptual processing serve as confounding factors in standard picture recognition tasks and may alternately account for children’s poor long-term memory performance relative to adults. The second presentation exposes the impact of memory paradigm on deciphering structure-function relationships in the developing hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. The third presentation details how complex binding in recognition memory improves with age and links greater complex binding to a developmental reduction in susceptibility to retroactive interference. A discussant, who is a leading scholar in memory development, will present an integrated view of the topic and discuss avenues for advancing the study of memory in childhood.

Together, these presentations emphasize the importance of considering memory development in the context of specific task demands, brain development, and the accrual of capabilities like binding that support and strengthen memory performance.

Sub Unit

• Attention, Learning, Memory

Chair

• Rebecca F Schwarzlose, Washington University in Saint Louis

Discussant

• Vladimir M. Sloutsky, The Ohio State University

Individual Presentations

• In the Blink of an Eye: Visual Processing, Hippocampal Subfields, and Memory Function in Children - Presenting Author: Rebecca F Schwarzlose, Washington University in Saint Louis; Non-Presenting Author: Qijing Yu, Wayne State University; Non-Presenting Author: Sruthi Ramesh, Wayne State University; Non-Presenting Author: Roya Homayouni, Wayne State University; Non-Presenting Author: Zhijian Chen, Wayne State University; Non-Presenting Author: Noa Ofen, Wayne State University

• Roles of the Hippocampus and Prefrontal Cortex in Young Children - Presenting Author: Qijing Yu, Wayne State University; Non-Presenting Author: Sruthi Ramesh, Wayne State University; Non-Presenting Author: Bryn Thompson, Wayne State University; Non-Presenting Author: Roya Homayouni, Wayne State University; Non-Presenting Author: Zhijian Chen, Wayne State University; Non-Presenting Author: Mayu Nishimura, The Hospital for Sick Children; Non-Presenting Author: Noa Ofen, Wayne State University

• Memory Binding and Forgetting in Development - Presenting Author: Kevin Darby, University of Virginia; Non-Presenting Author: Vladimir M. Sloutsky, The Ohio State University