A dissociation in infants' memory for stimulus size: Evidence for the early development of multiple memory systems
✍ Scribed by Peter Gerhardstein; Scott A. Adler; Carolyn Rovee-Collier
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 192 KB
- Volume
- 36
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0012-1630
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Adults' memory performance on recognition (explicit memory) tests is sensitive to stimulus size, but their performance on priming (implicit memory) tests is not. This memory dissociation is taken as evidence for two, functionally distinct memory systems. Young infants, however, are thought to possess only a single representational system that supports implicit memory; the system that supports explicit memory is thought not to mature before 8-9 months of age. In two experiments with 54 infants, we asked if 3-month-olds exhibit a memory dissociation for stimulus size on recognition and priming tests. All infants learned to move a mobile displaying ϩs of a given size. In Experiment 1, infants recognized ϩs in the original size but not 33% smaller or larger. In Experiment 2, ϩs were effective memory primes in a reactivation task, irrespective of size. The finding that young infants exhibit a memory dissociation for stimulus size adds to growing evidence that two memory systems are functional from early in development.