Developmental differences in the use of retrieval cues to describe episodic information in memory

The effects of an advertising retrieval cue on young children's memory and brand evaluations

“…Four reasons appear for children's retrieval deficit in using cues. First, children may encode context and event information less interactively than adults (Ackerman, 1987;Ackerman & Rathburn, 1984). For example, Pressley (1982) reviewed work that showed children do not spontaneously elaborate the cue and target information.…”

“…For example, Pressley (1982) reviewed work that showed children do not spontaneously elaborate the cue and target information. Second, deficits in associative structure in memory may constrain children's use of interitem associations to retrieve (Ackerman, 1985a(Ackerman, , 1985b(Ackerman, , 1986a(Ackerman, , 1986b(Ackerman, , 1987(Ackerman, ,1988Ackerman & Rathburn, 1984). Norman and Bobrow (1979) suggested that the power to describe event information may vary depending on the structure and amount of what is known.…”

“…Young children may lack well-articulated (Bjorklund & Thompson, 1983) or easily activated (Bjorklund & de Marchena, 1984) categorical associative networks. Third, the trace event information in memory may not be available (trace mutability) because concept representations are less stable or solidified in children than in adults (Ackerman & Rathburn, 1984). Fourth, children may encode cue information between acquisition and retrieval more variably than adults, again because of the less stable concept representations.…”

“…In regards to encoding variability, Ackerman (1983) (Ackerman & Rathburn, 1984) has found that when the encoding of event information is specific and distinctive and compatible cues are used at both acquisition and retrieval, then young children can make excellent use of retrieval cues. The goodness of encoding does seem to make a difference for young children.…”

Memory development between 2 and 20

“…Ackerman and bis colleagues , 1985dAckerman & Hess, 1982;Ackerman & Rathburn, 1984;Ackerman & Rust-Kahl, 1982) have studied in detail the dependency of children and adults on identical study and retrieval environments. One tactic has been to vary the types of questions asked at encoding and retrieval (e.g.…”