Making the Past Present: Later Verbal Accessibility of Early Memories

Abstract

A major question in the literature regarding memory development is whether memories of events from early in life are later accessible to verbal report. In a controlled study, we examined this question in toddlers who were 13, 16, or 20 months old at the time of exposure to specific events, and who were evaluated for spontaneous verbal expression of memory after delays of 9 to 12 months (Experiment 1), or 1 to 3 months (Experiment 2). Verbal reports of the events were elicited at the age of 3 years (both experiments). There was little evidence of spontaneous verbal mnemonic expression at the first delayed-recall test; the mnemonic expression that was observed was predicted by concurrent age and concurrent verbal fluency. Children who had been 20 months at the time of first experience of the events, and who were older and more verbally fluent at the first delayed-recall test (i.e., 20-month-olds in Experiment 1), provided verbal evidence of event memory at 3 years. The results are consistent with the suggestion that under some circumstances, early memories later are accessible to verbal report.For much of the history of cognitive and developmental science, it was widely assumed that young children were unable to form memories of events that would en-

Becoming a teller of tales: Associations between children’s fictional narratives and parent–child reminiscence narratives

“…During these four sessions the children's memories for multi-step prop-supported event sequences were assessed in an elicited imitation task (Bauer, Wenner, Dropik & Wewerka, 2000). The fifth session took place when the children were approximately 36 months old and involved elicited imitation tasks (e.g., Bauer, Wenner, & Kroupina, 2002) as well as a parent-child conversation about six shared events that had occurred one to six months prior to the fifth testing session (Bauer & Burch, 2004). The sixth and last testing session took place when the children were between the ages of 4 years, 8 months and 9 years, 2 months and is the subject of the present report.…”

Neuropsicologia do desenvolvimento da memória: da pré-escola ao período escolar

“…Os bebês recordam fatos do passado, porém de forma diferente das crianças e dos adultos (Bauer, 2006). Nessa fase existem duas maneiras de avaliar a memória através de imitação: uma de forma imediata, chamada imitação eliciada e outra, após um intervalo, chamada imitação diferida (Bauer, Wenner, & Kroupina, 2002;Meltzoff, 1988). A imitação diferida é uma medida de memória não verbal (Barnat, Klein, & Meltzoff, 1996;Barr, Dowden, & Hayne, 1996).…”

“…Aos 13 ou 16 meses não se encontraram evidências de haver memória verbal relativamente estável em oposição a bebês (Bauer et al, 2002). Esses dados sugerem que existe um formato de organização não-verbal antes da verbalização.…”

Falar para lembrar Tipo de discurso e recordação de intervenção

“…Este processo é claramente orientado pelo adulto, quer no seu conteú-do quer na sua organização . As crianças aprendem as formas e as funções de falar do passado pela participação em situações com outros que os orientam nesse processo (Bauer, Wenner & Kroupina, 2002;Reese, Haden & Fivush, 1993;Welch-Ross, 1997). Mas falar do passado e partilhar memórias exige uma recordação organizada e uma narrativa coerente com o acontecimento a relatar e o ponto de vista do outro (Labov, 1882; Peterson & McCabe, 1982;Lapsley, 1986) e uma das dificuldades da criança é precisamente como organizar a sua experiência pessoal numa narrativa coerente.…”

“…Este processo é claramente orientado pelo adulto, quer no seu conteú-do quer na sua organização . As crianças aprendem as formas e as funções de falar do passado pela participação em situações com outros que os orientam nesse processo (Bauer, Wenner & Kroupina, 2002;Reese, Haden & Fivush, 1993;Welch-Ross, 1997).…”