Becoming a competent information processor. Introduction to Memory Development during Childhood and Adolescence. Michael Pressley and Wolfgang Schneider. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ, 1997. No. of pages 162. ISBN 0-8058-2705-6 (cloth). Price $39.95. ISBN 0-8058-2706-4 (pbk). Price $19.95
✍ Scribed by Joanna F. Harris
- Book ID
- 101279324
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1999
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 52 KB
- Volume
- 13
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0888-4080
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Becoming a competent information processor is the underlying theme of Michael Pressley and Wolfgang Schneider's book. This theme is introduced at the end of Chapter 1 when the authors explain What Happens?' and is revisited in the last chapter Concluding Observations'. The introductory chapter tells the reader that the book will concentrate on memory research dealing primarily with children and adolescents, omitting by design memory research done with infants and toddlers. At ®rst I was slightly dismayed by the failure to point out that, for practical reasons, normal adult behaviour is the yardstick that de®nes good information processing. Although they do not state this concept explicitly, it is implied throughout the other chapters of the text.
The book is organized exceptionally well. The beginning chapter is a brief history of the research in child memory development. Initially the authors discuss the early research done by German and Soviet scientists. The authors then move to Western research of the 1900s. The presentation of this information is balanced with new research, lest your students fail to see the relevance of studying research from the past. For instance when discussing infantile amnesia, Pressley and Schneider reference Dudycha and Dudycha (1941) and then reinforce this research by referencing several studies from the 1980s and 1990s that support Dudycha and Dudycha's original work. This method is employed throughout the rest of the chapter.
The one problem I had with Chapter 1 was the author's discussion of children's testimony. This section leaves the reader with the impression that children, alone, can be intimidated into giving errant answers during questioning and are susceptible to interviewer's suggestions when recounting memories. Memory research with adults has shown that they are just as likely to give errant information under similar conditions. I understand that the research the author's decided to reference did not employ adults as part of their design, but there is research available that does compare children and adults and a vast resource of literature devoted to adult testimony and false reports.
Chapter 2 is an excellent, concise chapter that discusses basic memory capacities and the research in these areas relating to children. This information is presented in the traditional information-processing paradigm including a discussion of short-term memory, chunking, and speed of processing. There is also a section of the chapter that includes the importance of working memory in cognitive abilities, such as performance in complex tasks and developmental improvements in cognitive eciency.
Chapter 3 is a comprehensive review of knowledge-based research, citing classic studies and current information as well. This chapter includes information concerning children's representation of declarative knowledge such as concepts, memory schemata, core-based knowledge, and verbal and non-verbal images. The authors discuss the impact of expertise on knowledge acquisition and also compared prior knowledge with general intelligence, interest, strategy eects, and memory mediation. Finally, the chapter addresses the limited bene®ts of prior knowledge on memory and learning.
Chapter 4 outlines the developmental research in the area of memory and learning strategies. Research outlining children's strategies for remembering future events, pictures and words, and retrieval of hidden objects is presented in the ®rst part of the chapter. The second part of