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Infant memory development: Implications for childhood amnesia
Abstract
When asked to recall their earliest personal memories, most children and adults have virtually no recollection of their infancy or early childhood. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as childhood amnesia. The fate of our earliest memories has puzzled psychologists for over 50 years, particularly in light of the importance of early experience in human development. Empirical research has shown that infants can both learn and remember very early in development, making the ultimate fate of early memories even more mysterious. The theoretical explanation of childhood amnesia outlined here relies on age-related changes in encoding, retention, and retrieval that occur during infancy and early childhood. Data obtained using a host of different memory tasks support the conclusion that quantitative changes in these basic memory processes can account for the decline of childhood amnesia during the third or fourth year of life.
... One aspect is the factors affecting the visual behavior in the VPC procedure, another is the question of which kind of memory we are tapping into with the procedure. Of particular interest is whether the kind of memory documented by the VPC task is explicit in the sense that we can become aware of it and communicate it to others (i.e., declarative memory), or if it is implicit in nature -simply something that guides our visual behavior without any direct association with declarative memory (e.g., Hayne, 2004;Kingo et al., 2014;Manns et al., 2000;Snyder et al., 2008;Wagner et al., 1997). Manns et al. (2000), for instance, found that adults' performance on the VPC task was predictive of subsequent recognition memory performance, whereas perceptual priming was unrelated to subsequent recognition memory performance. ...
... The expectancy is that older children will have stronger memory traces and over longer retention intervals than younger children (Bahrick & Pickens, 1995;Hunter & Ames, 1988). Performance also increases with age for other kinds of memory such as conditioning or declarative memory (Bauer, 2007;Hayne, 2004). Consequently, we tested different age groups: A group of 18-month-olds, chosen because this is an age of both rapid vocabulary growth (Oates & Grayson, 2004) and important changes in self-awareness (Bard et al., 2006;Moore et al., 2007). ...
... Consequently, we tested different age groups: A group of 18-month-olds, chosen because this is an age of both rapid vocabulary growth (Oates & Grayson, 2004) and important changes in self-awareness (Bard et al., 2006;Moore et al., 2007). We also tested groups of older children (33-, and 39-month-olds, i.e., just below and just above 3 years of age), since this is the typical age for the offset of childhood amnesia (i.e., memories have a chance of being retained into adulthood; Bauer, 2007;Hayne, 2004;Kingo et al., 2013). Changes in the explicit memory performance close to age 3 is therefore of particular theoretical interest. ...
We tested the memory of 18-, 33-, and 39-month-olds (N = 120) for dynamic stimulus material (simple cartoons) after 6 months in a visual paired comparison (VPC) task. We also tested the explicit recognition memory (ERM) for the same material. Only the oldest age group (39-month-olds) showed a significant visual (familiarity) preference at the test. Similarly, only the oldest group reliably chose the correct cartoon in the ERM test. Data from the VPC and ERM tasks did not correlate in any age group. However, we suggested a novel score (coined ΔVPC) measuring how much visual preference changes during the test phase in the VPC task. We found that this ΔVPC score (and vocabulary) predicted children’s performance in the ERM task, whereas other potential predictors such as age and conventional novelty preference did not. We discuss the impact of these findings in relation to the development of implicit and explicit memory. Furthermore, we propose that VPC measures are associated with explicit memory only when the participants processed the stimuli conceptually. In such cases, we suggest that the ΔVPC score is an approximation of how demanding it is to construct the mental representation of the familiar stimulus during the test phase.
... The mobile paradigm is an operant conditioning procedure implemented by Rovee-Collier so that she could study infant memory development (for a detailed review of methods used to investigate infant memory see Rovee-Collier and Hayne, 1987;Hayne, 2004). In this procedure, the rate of stimulus presentation in response to the behavior is determined by a conjugate reinforcement schedule in which the reward is proportional to the amount of behavior exhibited (Lindsley, 1957;Rovee and Rovee, 1969). ...
... The argument that the retention capacity for declarative memories develops towards the end of the first year of life was supported recently (Bauer, 2006(Bauer, , 2008, and it was still considered the dominant view concerning infant memory (Mullally and Maguire, 2014). Recent arguments against the late maturation of the memory system have been provided by Hayne (2004). Variables that influence the declarative memory performance of adults, such as age, length of the retention interval, and whether the context changed from training to test, have been argued to also affect the memory performance of young infants in the mobile paradigm, suggesting that higherorder memory skills that require conscious recollection as in declarative memory exist in young infants. ...
... Earlier accounts of learning in the mobile paradigm were in line with this argument. Operant conditioning was considered the underlying learning mechanism, and movement of the mobile was considered to function as the reinforcer, leading to the gradual increase in the movement rate (Rovee and Rovee, 1969;Fagen et al., 1976;Hayne, 2004). Both gaining control over one's actions (Rovee-Collier and Gekoski, 1979) and the context constituting the visual aspects of the infant's environment contributed to the reinforcement value of the moving mobile. ...
In this review article, we describe the mobile paradigm, a method used for more than 50 years to assess how infants learn and remember sensorimotor contingencies. The literature on the mobile paradigm demonstrates that infants below 6 months of age can remember the learning environment weeks after when reminded periodically and integrate temporally distributed information across modalities. The latter ability is only possible if events occur within a temporal window of a few days, and the width of this required window changes as a function of age. A major critique of these conclusions is that the majority of this literature has neglected the embodied experience, such that motor behavior was considered an equivalent developmental substitute for verbal behavior. Over recent years, simulation and empirical work have highlighted the sensorimotor aspect and opened up a discussion for possible learning mechanisms and variability in motor preferences of young infants. In line with this recent direction, we present a new embodied account on the mobile paradigm which argues that learning sensorimotor contingencies is a core feature of development forming the basis for active exploration of the world and body. In addition to better explaining recent findings, this new framework aims to replace the dis-embodied approach to the mobile paradigm with a new understanding that focuses on variance and representations grounded in sensorimotor experience. Finally, we discuss a potential role for the dorsal stream which might be responsible for guiding action according to visual information, while infants learn sensorimotor contingencies in the mobile paradigm.
... Following consolidation, a memory might be available for retrieval so that a particular episode or key features of an episode can be recalled. These three memory processes exist across the lifespan but there are dramatic age-related changes in speed and efficiency throughout the infancy period (for a review, see Hayne, 2004). In terms of memory encoding, infants become faster with increasing age (e.g., Barr, Dowden, & Hayne, 1996;Morgan & Hayne, 2006). ...
... Assessing memory in infant populations is challenging. In addition to their nonverbal nature, infants exhibit rapid changes in motivation and interest specifically, and overall development generally (Hayne, 2004). Despite these obstacles, researchers have developed a number of paradigms that can be used to examine specific mnemonic skills in the first years of life. ...
... Despite these obstacles, researchers have developed a number of paradigms that can be used to examine specific mnemonic skills in the first years of life. Some of the most commonly used procedures are visual recognition memory paradigms, headturn preference procedures, operant conditioning paradigms, and deferred imitation paradigms (Hayne, 2004). ...
During the first year of life, infants devote the majority of their time to sleep. Research in adults has shown that sleep supports a variety of memory processes. Surprisingly, sleep's function for infant memory has only started to receive attention in research. In this chapter, we will describe age-related changes in sleep and in memory processing over the first years of life, as well as methods to capture both sleep and memory. Then, we will review current findings on the effects of sleep on memory processing in infants. Lastly, we will also point out gaps in current knowledge and describe potential avenues for future research. Overall, the results of recent experimental studies provide evidence that timely, extended napping is involved in how memories are encoded and stored in the long-term and contribute to the formation of knowledge networks in infants.
... However, up to now, there are no studies investigating neural development and the associated cognitive processes from infancy to adulthood using the same paradigm, probably due to methodological and ethical problems (Hayne, 2004). First, there are ethical challenges in working with human infant populations. ...
... First, there are ethical challenges in working with human infant populations. Methods that are usually employed in human adults or animals to assess learning and memory cannot be employed with human infants (Hayne, 2004). Fear conditioning tasks using electro shocks, which are often applied in studies with human adults or animals are unsuitable for infants. ...
... Fear conditioning tasks using electro shocks, which are often applied in studies with human adults or animals are unsuitable for infants. Second, tasks that require verbal understanding or production, and complex motor behaviors are unsuitable for infants (Hayne, 2004). Third, in terms of the lifespan approach, developmental changes in interests, attention rates, and physical abilities place limits on the assessment of learning and memory with the same task. ...
Associative learning can be observed from the neonatal period onward, providing opportunities to examine changes in basic learning and memory abilities. One method that is suitable to study associative learning is classical eyeblink conditioning (EBC) which is dependent on the cerebellum. Extinction learning can be systematically investigated in this paradigm by varying the context during learning and extinction. Because of methodological difficulties and ethical challenges, no studies have compared extinction learning using EBC across human development. Our goal was to test feasibility of a 3-day delay EBC paradigm that can be used from infancy to adulthood. Acceptance/safety was tested especially for infancy by investigating attrition rates and parental report on infant wellbeing. On a paradigm side, we tested if the paradigm leads to successful acquisition and extinction. An air puff served as unconditional stimulus (US) and a tone as conditional stimulus (CS). On day 1 during acquisition, participants received 36 US-CS pairings in context A. On day 2, participants received 12 acquisition trials in context A to consolidate association learning, followed by 48 extinction trials (tone alone presentations) in context B. Renewal was assessed on day 3 and incorporated 12 CS alone trials presented in both the acquisition context and the extinction context. Eyeblink responses were videotaped and coded offline. The protocol was tested with 12-36-months-old infants (N = 72), adolescents (N = 8), and adults (N = 8). Concerning the acceptance/safety side, attrition ranged from 21 to 58% in infant samples due to the complex preparation of the children for the paradigm. However, attrition is equal to or lower than other infant learning paradigms. Parents of infant samples were very interested in the paradigm and reported low levels of infant stress, exhaustion, and negative feelings during the sessions. Data quality was very high, and no participant had to be excluded because of insufficient data. Concerning the paradigm side, participants showed successful acquisition and extinction as a group. The procedure is ethically sound, feasible, tolerated by many infants, and acceptable among parents. The data show successful acquisition and extinction rates, making the paradigm a valuable tool for investigating developmental changes in extinction learning over the lifespan.
... Consequently, the first research aim is to broaden and further study existing literature on childhood nostalgia and early exposure with relation to snack brand loyalty. This will be achieved by reviewing current data on the topic (Fournier, 1998;Braun, Ellis and Loftus, 2002;Ji, 2002;Hayne, 2004;Braun-LaTour, LaTour and Zinkhan, 2007;LaTour, LaTour and Zinkhan, 2010;Shields and Johnson, 2016). ...
... Additionally, it has been proposed that childbrand relationships nurtured in early years are more deeply formed that those formed later in life (Ji, 2002). More importantly, it has also been noted that childhood earliest memories have a major influence on an individual's internal opinions (Josselson, 2000) and that experiences that take place in early life have a greater impact than those that occur later in life (Hayne, 2004). Therefore, the importance of early brand exposure should be acknowledged due to its emotional implications, because child-brand relationships are the basis for brand affective attachments in later years (Braun, Ellis and Loftus, 2002). ...
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between childhood nostalgia and brand loyalty, as well as establishing whether early brand exposure has an impact on brand loyalty during adulthood. In order to clearly define these constructs, an extensive literature review was carried out. Subsequently, an exploratory research was conducted by implementing online questionnaires among 202 participants. Respondents were required to identify their favourite childhood snack brand and to respond to a series of questions enquiring about the age of first exposure to the brand and the nature of these memories. Furthermore, participants were required to rate the childhood brand nostalgia, brand trust and brand loyalty of their selected brand in a 7-point Likert scale. The findings of this study indicate that there is a significant correlation between childhood nostalgia and brand loyalty and that early age brand exposure has a notable influence in brand loyalty in adulthood. Finally, these results suggest that individuals can develop affectionate relationships with brands early in childhood and these bonds are preserved during lifetime. Understanding such relationships is crucial as companies are increasingly relying on retro-branding and nostalgia-centric campaigns to expand and maintain their market share.
... Early brand exposure should certainly be recognised due to its emotional significance, since child-brand affiliations are the foundation for brand attachment later in life (Braun et al., 2002). Additionally, current data indicates that childhood earliest memories have a significant impact on an individual's internal opinion (Josselson, 2000), and that events that occurred in early life have a stronger influence than those that take place later in life (Hayne, 2004). Furthermore, and relevant to this study, previous research emphasized on the importance of investigating early childhood memories as an instrument to comprehend how present brand affiliations were first developed . ...
... The imminent importance of brand loyalty in business retention is well recognised in marketing, this research aims to expand the existing understanding of childhood nostalgia with relation to food/snack brand loyalty by means of evaluating current literature on nostalgia and implementing online consumer questionnaires. In accordance with existing literature (Hayne, 2004;Braun et al., 2002;LaTour et al., 2010), the second aim of this study is to investigate the effects of age of exposure and consequent brand loyalty to brands in adulthood, considering the fact that the research will be based on the recollection of early autobiographical childhood memories as a method of study, the age and nature of such brand memories will be explored. The nature of this research will be exploratory; therefore, no formal hypothesis can be proposed. ...
The aim of this research proposal is to provide an outline of the research framework that will be carried out to attain the aims and objectives of this study. The importance of maintaining brand loyalty is become apparent in today’s competitive business environment; identifying and understanding the factors that influence consumers to repurchase a product is crucial to develop effective marketing strategies. This proposal will include an overview of the importance of this research as well as a literature review of existing data, followed by the aims and objectives, an outline of the research design, data collection methods, limitation and ethical implications, time schedule and budget.
... Early-life experiences are the foundation for long-term development (Lupien, McEwen, Gunnar, & Heim, 2009;Pechtel & Pizzagalli, 2011) even though they are not subject to explicit recall. Studying early memory processing is directly relevant for understanding infantile amnesia (Hayne, 2004;Meltzoff, 1995). Our results show that variations in internal state can make recently formed memories inaccessible to infants. ...
... Our results show that variations in internal state can make recently formed memories inaccessible to infants. By limiting the chances of retrieval and hence their further use, the observed strong state-dependency might play a role in the apparent loss of early memories (Hayne, 2004). As such, the present findings suggest that the characteristic rapid state changes in infancy might be a potent, but hitherto overlooked contributor to the puzzling phenomenon of infantile amnesia. ...
Why do infants remember some things and not others? Human infants frequently cycle through different states such as calm attentiveness, wakeful activity, and crying. Given that cognitive processes do not occur in isolation, such fluctuations in internal state might influence memory processing. In the present experiment, declarative memory in 9-month-old infants (N = 96) was heavily state dependent. Infants exhibited excellent retention of a deferred imitation task after a 15-min delay if their state at encoding was identical to their state at retrieval (e.g., calm). Infants failed to exhibit retention if their state at encoding was different from their state at retrieval (e.g., calm vs. animated). Infant memory processing depends on internal cues.
... Western adults typically recall little of their lives before age 3 or 4, a phenomenon known as infantile amnesia (Bauer 2015). Young children themselves can recall events that occurred at age 2 or earlier, but these sparsely detailed memories are not usually retained into adulthood (Bauer 1996;Hayne 2004). Surprisingly, evidence for other forms of memory emerges in infancy (Hayne 2004). ...
... Young children themselves can recall events that occurred at age 2 or earlier, but these sparsely detailed memories are not usually retained into adulthood (Bauer 1996;Hayne 2004). Surprisingly, evidence for other forms of memory emerges in infancy (Hayne 2004). Accordingly, the neural wetware for remembering is in place much earlier than autobiographical remembering itself, which has to be learned in a slow, multistage, and variable process essentially involving sociocultural interaction (Nelson 1996;Sutton 2015). ...
Sociocultural developmental psychology can drive new directions in gadgetry science. We use autobiographical memory, a compound capacity incorporating episodic memory, as a case study. Autobiographical memory emerges late in development, supported by interactions with parents. Intervention research highlights the causal influence of these interactions, whereas cross-cultural research demonstrates culturally determined diversity. Different patterns of inheritance are discussed.
... Western adults typically recall little of their lives before age 3 or 4, a phenomenon known as infantile amnesia (Bauer 2015). Young children themselves can recall events that occurred at age 2 or earlier, but these sparsely detailed memories are not usually retained into adulthood (Bauer 1996;Hayne 2004). Surprisingly, evidence for other forms of memory emerges in infancy (Hayne 2004). ...
... Young children themselves can recall events that occurred at age 2 or earlier, but these sparsely detailed memories are not usually retained into adulthood (Bauer 1996;Hayne 2004). Surprisingly, evidence for other forms of memory emerges in infancy (Hayne 2004). Accordingly, the neural wetware for remembering is in place much earlier than autobiographical remembering itself, which has to be learned in a slow, multistage, and variable process essentially involving sociocultural interaction (Nelson 1996;Nelson & Fivush 2004;Sutton 2015). ...
Attempted answers are given to (a) whether nonhuman great apes (apes) also have evolved imitation (answer: no); (b) whether humans can transmit imitation as a gadget to apes (answer: yes, partly); (c) whether human-to-ape transmission can kickstart subsequent and stable ape cultural evolutionary psychology (“CEP”; answer: unlikely); and (d) when CEP evolved in our lineage (answer: relatively late).
... The link between age at FGC and FGC as the event that bothered girls the most may be related to changes in memory encoding, retention, and retrieval that occur during early childhood. Most people have no recollection of infancy and earliest childhood, but quantitative changes in basic memory processes can explain the fading of childhood amnesia during the third and fourth years of life (29). Although the timing of FGC may affect how the event is remembered later, the exceptionally low prevalence of PTSD related to FGC in the current work does not provide evidence in support of the hypothesis linking FGC timing and development of PTSD (18). ...
Introduction
Poor mental health, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), has been reported after female genital cutting (FGC). However, data documenting adverse consequences of FGC have insufficiently considered confounding factors, such as other traumatising events. Here, we examined the extent to which FGC versus other serious life events disturbed Gambian girls subjected to FGC. We additionally assessed the prevalence of PTSD and the extent to which it was attributed to FGC versus other serious life events.
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional study with a community-based sample of 12 years-old Gambian girls who had been subjected to FGC ( N = 125). Using structured interviews, we assessed serious life events and probable PTSD related to the event that the girls cited as bothering them the most.
Results
Most of the girls reported several serious life events in addition to FGC, such as witnessing violence, experiencing violence or assaults, death of a close relative, and being exposed to natural disasters or serious accidents, for an average 4.5 events per girl. Around one-sixth of the girls (16.8%) stated that FGC was the event that currently bothered them the most, whereas the majority (75.2%) emphasised other experiences. The girls who said they were most troubled by other events reported more impaired daily functioning than those most bothered by FGC. Overall, we found a prevalence of probable PTSD of 19.2%. Of 24 PTSD cases, one was attributed to the experience of FGC, and the remaining 23 were attributed to other events.
Conclusion
Our findings indicate that FGC is less important than other serious life events in explaining high rates of PTSD in Gambian girls. Associations established in the field between FGC and adverse mental health must be interpreted with caution because girls who have undergone FGC may be severely exposed to other traumatising events.
... Early in development, the features detected at encoding and at retrieval must be identical, or else infants cannot access and retrieve potentially relevant knowledge. With age, memory retrieval becomes increasingly immune to mismatches and delays between contexts, both in terms of recognition, as showed in mobile conjugate paradigm (e.g., Borovsky and Rovee-Collier 1990;Hartshorn and Rovee-Collier 1997;Hartshorn et al. 1998) and genuine recall, as showed in deferred imitation paradigm (e.g., Barr and Brito 2013;Hanna and Meltzoff 1993;Hayne 2004;Hayne et al. 1997Hayne et al. , 2000Herbert and Hayne 2000;Learmonth et al. 2004). For instance, in deferred imitation studies, after 24 h, 12-month-olds could imitate the previously seen sequence, even if the props changed in color (e.g., gray to pink mouse) but not in shape (e.g., gray mouse to rabbit; Hayne et al. 2000). ...
Flexible problem solving, the ability to deal with currently goal-irrelevant information that may have been goal-relevant in previous, similar situations, plays a prominent role in cognitive development and has been repeatedly investigated in developmental research. However, this research, spanning from infancy to the school years, lacks a unifying framework, obscuring the developmental timing of flexible problem solving. Therefore, in this review paper, previous findings are gathered, organized, and integrated under a common framework to unveil how and when flexible problem solving develops. It is showed that the development of flexible problem solving coincides with increases in executive functions, that is, inhibition, working memory and task switching. The analysis of previous findings shows that dealing with goal-irrelevant, non-salient information received far more attention than generalizing in the presence of goal-irrelevant, salient information. The developmental timing of the latter can only be inferred from few transfer studies, as well as executive functions, planning and theory of mind research, to highlight gaps in knowledge and sketch out future research directions. Understanding how transfers in the presence of seemingly relevant but truly irrelevant information develops has implications for well-balanced participation in information societies, early and lifespan education, and investigating the evolutionary trajectory of flexible problem solving.
... Historically, infant learning differences have been attributed to an immature brain: many brain structures and neurotransmitter systems used in adult learning are not integrated into learning until later life (Carver et al., 2000;Hayne, 2004;Káldy and Sigala, 2004;Rovee-Collier and Cuevas, 2009;Josselyn and Frankland, 2012;Travaglia et al., 2018). Equally important is the consideration that learning in early life requires some unique skills and neural features to support infant-specific behaviors (Abrous et al., 2022;Callaghan et al., 2019;Debiec and Sullivan, 2017;Lin and Wilbrecht, 2022;Svalina et al., 2022). ...
Infant survival relies on rapid identification, remembering and behavioral responsiveness to caregivers’ sensory cues. While neural circuits supporting infant attachment learning have largely remained elusive in children, use of invasive techniques has uncovered some of its features in rodents. During a 10-day sensitive period from birth, newborn rodents associate maternal odors with maternal pleasant or noxious thermo-tactile stimulation, which gives rise to a preference and approach behavior towards these odors, and blockade of avoidance learning. Here we review the neural circuitry supporting this neonatal odor learning, unique compared to adults, focusing specifically on the early roles of neurotransmitters such as glutamate, GABA (Gamma-AminoButyric Acid), serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, in the olfactory bulb, the anterior piriform cortex and amygdala. The review highlights the importance of deepening our knowledge of age-specific infant brain neurotransmitters and behavioral functioning that can be translated to improve the well-being of children during typical development and aid in treatment during atypical development in childhood clinical practice, and the care during rearing of domestic animals.
... Human and animal research together has highlighted a critical period in early childhood when the hippocampus undergoes a decline in neurogenesis and an increase in competence to store long-term memories (Akers et al., 2014;Alberini & Travaglia, 2017;Dennis et al., 2016;Josselyn & Frankland, 2012;Travaglia et al., 2016). Such neural development eliminates infantile amnesia, the phenomenon whereby episodic memories in early childhood quickly fade away and are rarely remembered in adulthood (Hayne, 2004). In humans, infantile amnesia fades away at 3 to 4 years of age (Bauer et al., 2011;Schneider & Pressley, 2013), implying a change in children's memory from non-adult-like to more adult-like in this period due to rapid hippocampal development. ...
Adults have been shown to consistently remember and forget certain images despite large individual differences, suggesting a population-wide sensitivity to an image’s intrinsic memorability —a measure of how successfully an image is remembered. While a decade of research has focused on image memorability among adults, the developmental trajectory of these consistencies in memory is understudied. Here, we investigate by what age children gain adultlike sensitivity to the image memorability effect. We utilized data from Saragosa-Harris et al. (2021), where 137 children aged between 3 and 5 years old encoded animal-scene image pairs and then after a 5-minute, 24-hour, or 1-week delay performed a cued recognition task for each scene target given its animal cue. We tested adults’ memory of the same scene images using ResMem (Needell & Bainbridge, 2022), a pre-trained deep neural network that predicts adult image memorability scores, and using an online behavioral continuous recognition task (N = 116). Results showed that ResMem predictions, as a proxy of adults’ memory, predicted scene memory of children by the age of 4 and were the most predictive of children’s memory across ages after a long, 1-week delay. Children at age 3 show non-adult-like consistent memory patterns, implying that the non-adult-like memory patterns were not due to poor memory performance. Instead, 3-year-olds may have consistently used certain visual memory strategies that become less optimal as they age. Our results suggest that adult-like sensitivity to image memorability emerges by the age of 4 through experience.
Public Significance Statement
This study strongly suggests that children older than 4 years old tend to remember and forget the same images as adults. We recommend teachers and caregivers to utilize the ResMem DNN to select memorable images to be used in educational settings.
... In rodents as in humans, episodic infantile memories appear to be rapidly forgotten (Hartshorn et al., 1998;Hayne, 2004;Rovee-Collier and Cuevas, 2009;Campbell and Spear, 1972;Hartshorn et al., 1998;Li et al., 2014). This rapid forgetting is believed to explain infantile amnesia, the inability of adults to remember infantile experiences (Nadel and Zola-Morgan, 1984;Howes et al., 1993;Peterson et al., 2005;Mullally and Maguire, 2014). ...
Episodic memories formed in early childhood rapidly decay, but their latent traces remain stored long term. These memories require the dorsal hippocampus (dHPC) and seem to undergo a developmental critical period. It remains to be determined whether the maturation of parvalbumin interneurons (PVIs), a major mechanism of critical periods, contributes to memory development. Here, we show that episodic infantile learning significantly increases the levels of parvalbumin in the dHPC 48 h after training. Chemogenetic inhibition of PVIs before learning indicated that these neurons are required for infantile memory formation. A bilateral dHPC injection of the γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptor agonist diazepam after training elicited long-term memory expression in infant rats, although direct PVI chemogenetic activation had no effect. Finally, PVI activity was required for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)-dependent maturation of memory competence, i.e., adult-like long-term memory expression. Thus, dHPC PVIs are critical for the formation of infantile memories and for memory development.
... An area of ongoing debate regards the nature of infant memory itself; specifically, whether the content of early memories is implicit, semantic, and/or episodic in nature as well as whether different types of memory have unique developmental trajectories. The bulk of what we know about infant memory comes from the paradigms described above; however, there is little consensus regarding the type(s) of memory assessed by each task (see Bauer et al., 2007;Hayne, 2004;Rovee-Collier & Cuevas, 2009b). Nevertheless, it is quite impressive that despite theoretical differences and variability in approach, some overarching characteristics of infant memory and its development have emerged across paradigms. ...
This chapter reviews the most widely used paradigms to assess memory in human infants (e.g., operant conditioning, preferential looking, and imitation). We focus on resulting core principles of early memory development encompassing encoding speed as well as memory duration, retrieval, and flexibility. The field is well-grounded in experimental investigations; considerably less is known about potential underlying mechanisms and sources of variation contributing to ontogenetic changes in infant memory. Using a biopsychosocial framework, this chapter considers the bidirectional, interactive networks of biological, psychological, and social variables critical to early memory development. Relevant empirical work on human and non-human infants is highlighted, including examinations of neurobiology, varied experience, adversity, sleep, and socialization. Further, the present chapter discusses functional approaches to infant memory development, including evidence of developmental reversals (e.g., superior memory performance in younger, developing individuals as compared to their older counterparts). We consider how developing biological systems are adapted to meet changing ecological demands. Future directions for the field are discussed within the context of integrative approaches that can provide more holistic understanding of ontogenetic changes in memory.
... Childhood amnesia refers to impoverished adult recall of early childhood events. From below the age of seven years few events are remembered, even fewer from below the age of about five years, and, commonly, none below the age of about two years (Hayne, 2004;Wetzler & Sweeney, 1986). However, children below the age of seven years can remember specific events including those from the pre-verbal period before they have the verbal ability to describe them . ...
... Therefore, tired caregivers likely behave differently in interactions with their infants than wellrested caregivers, with potential cognitive consequences for the infant. Interacting with their infant requires specific adjustments from a caregiver: For example, infants often request repetitions of activities, they require a slower speed of information presentation than older children, and they shift their attention quickly (Barr et al., 1996;Hayne, 2004;Morgan & Hayne, 2011). Hence, a supportive caregiver will need to bring with them patience, empathy, and cognitive flexibility, among other qualities. ...
During infancy, humans typically spend most of their time asleep. It is intuitively plausible that this state is important for development and well-being. But there has been a surprising dearth of knowledge regarding the causal role of sleep for specific cognitive processes during this period. Recent experimental evidence has revealed a causal role of sleep for early memory processes. By supporting the consolidation and further processing of recently acquired memories, sleep shapes emerging knowledge networks. In addition, infants’ sleep patterns likely shape their learning environment by influencing caregiver sleep and behavior. Based on recent research, recommendations for policy and practice include (a) allowing individualized sleep schedules in child care settings, (b) providing easily accessible information on sleep and sleep promotion to caregivers, (c) integrating findings from sleep research in the training of early childhood educators, and (d) providing flexible parental leave arrangements that promote sufficient sleep in infants and caregivers.
... Ten aanzien van het declaratieve geheugen is altijd gedacht dat zeer jonge kinderen niet in staat zijn expliciete geheugensporen te vormen. Hayne (2004) laat in een review echter zien dat het declaratieve geheugen in de eerste twee jaar van ons leven in snel tempo toeneemt. Kinderen van één tot anderhalf jaar oud hebben ongeveer de helft minder presentatietijd nodig om een aantal doelgerichte handelingen te onthouden dan zuigelingen van 6 maanden. ...
... Nonetheless, there may be reason to suspect that a human's first memory is either an important step in memory development or indicates a transition to a more 'adult-like' memory system. For example, the average age of adults' first memory coincides with a time of rapid language development which may enhance children's ability to encode and retrieve information (Hayne, 2004). In other words, a time when we might expect infantile amnesia to 'end'. ...
Here, we examined retrospective reports of adults’ earliest autobiographical memory, the age of this report and whether the reported age was associated with exposure to early life adversity, current anxiety and childhood attachment. Across four studies, we found that reporting a later ‘earliest’ memory was associated with higher self‐reported anxiety in both American (Studies 1, 2 and 4) and Australian (Study 3) samples. Furthermore, in Studies 2–4, we found that reporting a later earliest memory uniquely predicted anxiety when controlling for number of adverse childhood events (a risk factor for the development of anxiety). In Study 4, we established that this relation is partially mediated by childhood anxious attachment. Although we consistently demonstrated that later earliest memories were associated with current anxiety, we found little evidence for a relation between reported age at the time of earliest memory and childhood adversity. We also found no evidence of gender differences in the associations of interest. These results suggest that poorer memory of early childhood is associated with greater childhood anxious attachment and anxiety in adulthood. The implications of this work are discussed in terms of the adaptive nature of autobiographical memory and the development of a coherent life narrative.
... Unlike the memories formed when the system is mature, episodic memories learned in infancy are expressed for a short time, but then appear to be rapidly forgotten. This forgetting is thought to be associated to infantile amnesia, the inability of adults to recall early-life events (Campbell and Spear, 1972;Hayne, 2004;Josselyn and Frankland, 2012;Callaghan et al., 2014;Madsen and Kim, 2016;Alberini and Travaglia, 2017). However, infantile memories are not lost, but rather are stored over the long term in a latent form; in fact, they can be reinstated later in life following the presentation of certain behavioral reminders or artificial reactivation of the neuronal networks activated during learning (Travaglia et al., 2016b;Guskjolen et al., 2018;Bessières et al., 2020). ...
The metabolic mechanisms underlying the formation of early-life episodic memories remain poorly characterized. Here, we assessed the metabolomic profile of the rat hippocampus at different developmental ages both at baseline and following episodic learning. We report that the hippocampal metabolome significantly changes over developmental ages and that learning regulates differential arrays of metabolites according to age. The infant hippocampus had the largest number of significant changes following learning, with downregulation of 54 metabolites. Of those, a large proportion was associated with the glutathione-mediated cellular defenses against oxidative stress. Further biochemical, molecular, and behavioral assessments revealed that infantile learning evokes a rapid and persistent increase in the activity of neuronal glutathione reductase, the enzyme that regenerates reduced glutathione from its oxidized form. Inhibition of glutathione reductase selectively impaired long-term memory formation in infant but not in juvenile and adult rats, confirming its age-specific role. Thus, metabolomic profiling revealed that the hippocampal glutathione-mediated antioxidant pathway is differentially required for the formation of infantile memory.
... This pattern of results shows that toddlers did not specifically and only copy a particular behavior (calm play, active play) but rather the general strategy (distraction), regardless of temperament. This ties in well with previous research of infant learning and memory that has revealed an age-related increase in the ability to apply previously acquired knowledge to a wider range of circumstances (for a review, see Hayne, 2004). For example, in a deferred imitation study 6-month-old infants struggled to retrieve their memories across a change in physical context (home vs. laboratory, Barr et al., 1996). ...
Little is known about toddlers’ acquisition of specific emotion regulation (ER) strategies, and how early ER is shaped by temperament. This study investigated if 24-month-old German toddlers, predominantly from families with high levels of parental education (N = 96, n = 49 male), learned the ER strategy distraction through observational learning, and its interaction with temperament. Increased use of distraction correlated with reduced negative affect. Use of distraction in- creased through observational learning. Highly active toddlers tended to use ac- tive playing activities to distract themselves in a frustrating situation, whereas toddlers with a less active temperament used calmer activities. Toddlers’ learning to apply distraction through observational learning was independent of a match between their own temperament and the model's actions.
... Age-dependent differences may have a substrate within the medial temporal lobe, in structures that have different maturation periods; thus, the learning and memory functions emerged differently in time across postnatal development in rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans (Alvarado and Bachevalier, 2000;Reger et al., 2009;McQuail et al., 2012). The lesser longterm memory observed in young degus could have a parallel explanation in the general observation of "infantile amnesia" or the inability of adults to recall infantile memories due to underdeveloped brain (Campbell and Campbell, 1962;Hayne, 2004;Reger et al., 2009;Li et al., 2014). The faster rate of forgetting at a younger age is a well-documented phenomenon across many animal groups. ...
Aging is a progressive functional decline characterized by a gradual deterioration in physiological function and behavior. The most important age-related change in cognitive function is decline in cognitive performance (i.e., the processing or transformation of information to make decisions that includes speed of processing, working memory, and learning). The purpose of this study is to outline the changes in age-related cognitive performance (i.e., short-term recognition memory and long-term learning and memory) in long-lived Octodon degus . The strong similarity between degus and humans in social, metabolic, biochemical, and cognitive aspects makes it a unique animal model for exploring the mechanisms underlying the behavioral and cognitive deficits related to natural aging. In this study, we examined young adult female degus (12- and 24-months-old) and aged female degus (38-, 56-, and 75-months-old) that were exposed to a battery of cognitive-behavioral tests. Multivariate analyses of data from the Social Interaction test or Novel Object/Local Recognition (to measure short-term recognition memory), and the Barnes maze test (to measure long-term learning and memory) revealed a consistent pattern. Young animals formed a separate group of aged degus for both short- and long-term memories. The association between the first component of the principal component analysis (PCA) from short-term memory with the first component of the PCA from long-term memory showed a significant negative correlation. This suggests age-dependent differences in both memories, with the aged degus having higher values of long-term memory ability but poor short-term recognition memory, whereas in the young degus an opposite pattern was found. Approximately 5% of the young and 80% of the aged degus showed an impaired short-term recognition memory; whereas for long-term memory about 32% of the young degus and 57% of the aged degus showed decreased performance on the Barnes maze test. Throughout this study, we outlined age-dependent cognitive performance decline during natural aging in degus. Moreover, we also demonstrated that the use of a multivariate approach let us explore and visualize complex behavioral variables, and identified specific behavioral patterns that allowed us to make powerful conclusions that will facilitate further the study on the biology of aging. In addition, this study could help predict the onset of the aging process based on behavioral performance.
... Hippocampus-dependent episodic memories formed early in life are rapidly forgotten. This process of forgetting is evolutionarily conserved and is associated with infantile amnesia, the inability of adults to recall early-life memories (Campbell and Spear 1972;Rovee-Collier 1999;Hayne 2004;Josselyn and Frankland 2012;Callaghan et al. 2014;Madsen and Kim 2016;Alberini and Travaglia 2017). ...
Episodic memories formed during infancy are rapidly forgotten, a phenomenon associated with infantile amnesia, the inability of adults to recall early-life memories. In both rats and mice, infantile memories, although not expressed, are actually stored long term in a latent form. These latent memories can be reinstated later in life by certain behavioral reminders or by artificial reactivations of neuronal ensembles activated at training. Whether the recovery of infantile memories is limited by developmental age, maternal presence, or contingency of stimuli presentation remains to be determined. Here, we show that the return of inhibitory avoidance memory in rats following a behavioral reactivation consisting of an exposure to the context (conditioned stimuli [CS]) and footshock (unconditioned stimuli [US]) given in a temporally unpaired fashion, is evident immediately after US and is limited by the developmental age at which the reactivations are presented; however, it is not influenced by maternal presence or the time interval between training and reactivation. We conclude that one limiting factor for infantile memory reinstatement is developmental age, suggesting that a brain maturation process is necessary to allow the recovery of a “lost” infantile memory.
... Memories formed in adulthood can be memorized for years, while similar memories formed in childhood seem to be easily and quickly forgotten. Infantile or childhood amnesia is the inability of adult humans to recall episodic experiences that occurred in the first few years of life (typically 0 to 3 years of age) and the tendency to have sparse memories of episodic experiences that occurred before the age of 10 [83][84][85][86]. Studies of infantile hippocampal learning mechanisms described developmental time windows during which the brain is particularly sensitive and receptive to experiences, and the findings of which may help shed light on the mechanism by which forgetting rates may vary with age [87][88][89]. ...
Synaptic plasticity is the key to synaptic health, and aberrant synaptic plasticity, which in turn impairs the functioning of large-scale brain networks, has been associated with neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. The best known and most studied form of activity-dependent synaptic plasticity remains long-term potentiation (LTP), which is controlled by glutamatergic N-methyl-d-aspartate) receptors (NMDAR) and considered to be a mechanism crucial for cellular learning and memory. Over the past two decades, discrepancies have arisen in the literature regarding the contribution of NMDAR subunit assemblies in the direction of NMDAR-dependent synaptic plasticity. Here, the nonspecific NMDAR antagonist ketamine (5 and 10 mg/kg), and the selective NR2B antagonists CP-101606 and Ro 25-6981 (6 and 10 mg/kg), were administered intraperitoneally in Sprague Dawley rats to disentangle the contribution of NR2B subunit in the LTP induced at the Schaffer Collateral-CA1 synapse using the theta burst stimulation protocol (TBS). Ketamine reduced, while CP-101606 and Ro 25-6981 did not alter the LTP response. The administration of CP-101606 before TBS did not influence the effects of ketamine when administered half an hour after tetanization, suggesting a limited contribution of the NR2B subunit in the action of ketamine. This work confirms the role of NMDAR in the LTP form of synaptic plasticity, whereas specific blockade of the NR2B subunit was not sufficient to modify hippocampal LTP. Pharmacokinetics at the doses used may have contributed to the lack of effects with specific antagonists. The findings refute the role of the NR2B subunit in the plasticity mechanism of ketamine in the model.
... Mental health problems following FGC may vary based on the age at which a girl underwent the procedure, where the level of remembrance might be crucial for the interpretation of the event. In humans, the earliest autobiographical memories date from between the ages of 3 and 4 [70,71]. Therefore, it is not surprising that, in our sample, 16% of those who underwent the procedure before the age of 4 had a recollection of the procedure and its circumstances. ...
Background
Female genital cutting (FGC) involve an acute physical trauma that hold a potential risk for immediate and long-term complications and mental health problems. The aim of this study was to examine the prediction of depressive symptoms and psychological distress by the immediate and current physical complications following FGC. Further, to examine whether the age at which 12-year-old Gambian girls had undergone the procedure affected mental health outcomes.
Method
This cross-sectional study recruited 134 12-year-old girls from 23 public primary schools in The Gambia. We used a structured clinical interview to assess mental health and life satisfaction, including the Short Mood and Feeling Questionnaire (SMFQ), the Symptom check list (SCL-5) and Cantril’s Ladder of Life Satisfaction. Each interview included questions about the cutting procedure, immediate- and current physical complications and the kind of help and care girls received following FGC.
Results
Depressive symptoms were associated with immediate physical health complications in a multivariate regression model [RR = 1.08 (1.03, 1.12), p = .001], and with present urogenital problems [RR = 1.19 (1.09, 1.31), p < .001]. The girls that received medical help following immediate complications had a lower risk for depressive symptoms [RR = .73 (.55, .98), p = .04]. Psychological distress was only associated with immediate complications [RR = 1.04 (1.01, 1.07), p = .004]. No significant differences in mental health outcomes were found between girls who underwent FGC before the age of four in comparison to girls who underwent FGC after the age of four.
Conclusion
Our findings indicate that the immediate and long-term complications following FGC have implications for psychological health. Only a minimal number of girls received medical care when needed, and the dissemination of health education seems crucial in order to prevent adverse long-term physical and psychological health consequences.
... This could enable progress in understanding how infants perceive 24 and categorize 25 the world, make predictions 26 and run mental simulations 27 , and infer the mental states of others 28 . Better understanding the infant mind and brain could in turn shed light on cognitive neuroscience more generally 5 , for example, by informing theories of memory about the early functioning of brain systems, such as the hippocampus that might help explain later infantile amnesia 29 . To facilitate uptake, we have released our code for data acquisition, a flexible experiment menu system. ...
Thousands of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have provided important insight into the human brain. However, only a handful of these studies tested infants while they were awake, because of the significant and unique methodological challenges involved. We report our efforts to address these challenges, with the goal of creating methods for awake infant fMRI that can reveal the inner workings of the developing, preverbal mind. We use these methods to collect and analyze two fMRI datasets obtained from infants during cognitive tasks, released publicly with this paper. In these datasets, we explore and evaluate data quantity and quality, task-evoked activity, and preprocessing decisions. We disseminate these methods by sharing two software packages that integrate infant-friendly cognitive tasks and eye-gaze monitoring with fMRI acquisition and analysis. These resources make fMRI a feasible and accessible technique for cognitive neuroscience in awake and behaving human infants.
... Asking adult participants to retrospectively report their experiences of maltreatment during childhood using a brief questionnaire is common, enabling researchers to assess larger samples in a timely and relatively low-cost manner. However, retrospective reporting is susceptible to a number of time-related memory biases, including memory inaccuracy due to decay [11,12]; infantile amnesia [13] and the reconsolidation of maltreatment memories following feedback (e.g. being told something was or was not abusive) [14]. ...
Purpose:
Growing evidence suggests that prospective informant-reports and retrospective self-reports of childhood maltreatment may be differentially associated with adult psychopathology. However, it remains unknown how associations for these two maltreatment reporting types compare when considering functional outcomes. The present study compared associations between childhood maltreatment and functional outcomes at age 18 years using these two methods.
Methods:
We used data from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a nationally representative birth cohort of 2232 children born in England and Wales in 1994-1995. Maltreatment prior to age 12 years was assessed prospectively (during multiple home visits between birth and age of 12 years based on interviews with caregivers, researcher observations, and information from practitioners where child protection referrals were made) and retrospectively (at age 18 via self-report on the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire). Nine functional outcomes were measured at age 18, forming two variables capturing: (i) psychosocial and (ii) vocational disadvantage.
Results:
Among the 2054 participants with available data, childhood maltreatment was associated with poorer functional outcomes regardless of whether this was reported only prospectively, only retrospectively, or both. Stronger associations with psychosocial disadvantage arose in the context of retrospective recall by participants (OR = 8.25, 95% CI 4.93-13.82) than prospective reports by informants (OR = 2.03, 95% CI 1.36-3.04) of maltreatment. Conversely, associations with vocational disadvantage were comparable for both prospective informant-reports (OR = 2.19, 95% CI 1.42-3.38) and retrospective self-reports (OR = 1.93, 95% CI 1.33-2.81) of maltreatment.
Conclusion:
Results highlight the importance of considering the maltreatment report type used when interpreting the functional consequences of childhood maltreatment.
... 20160726-the-mystery-of-why-you-cant-remember-beinga-baby). In psychology and related fields, numerous studies have been done and theories developed to account for the neurological, cognitive, linguistic, social, and cultural mechanisms underlying the paucity of early memories and the flourishing of memory from late preschool years onward (e.g., Bauer, 2015;Hayne, 2004;Howe, 2003;Josselyn & Frankland, 2012;Nelson & Fivush, 2004;Pillemer & White, 1989;Reese, 2009;Rubin, 2000;Wang, 2013). ...
This book brings together scholarship that contributes diverse and new perspectives on childhood amnesia – the scarcity of memories for very early life events.
The topics of the studies reported in the book range from memories of infants and young children for recent and distant life events, to mother–child conversations about memories for extended lifetime periods, and to retrospective recollections of early childhood in adolescents and adults. The methodological approaches are diverse and theoretical insights rich. The findings together show that childhood amnesia is a complex and malleable phenomenon and that the waning of childhood amnesia and the development of autobiographical memory are shaped by a variety of interactive social and cognitive factors.
... Our assessment of maltreatment does not allow us to discern between neglect starting early in the development and neglect that occurred later in the development. Moreover, at least in child reports, any maltreatment that occurred in the first three to four years is unlikely to be remembered and hence, unlikely to be reported (100). Another consequence of not knowing the exact timing of maltreatment experiences is that we could not include the exact time that had elapsed since maltreatment as a potential moderator. ...
Background
Experiencing maltreatment during childhood exerts substantial stress on the child and increases the risk for overweight and obesity later in life. The current study tests whether hair cortisol—a measure of chronic stress—and its metabolite cortisone mediate the relation between abuse and neglect on the one hand, and body mass index (BMI) on the other.Method
The sample consisted of 249 participants aged 8 to 87 years (M = 36.13, SD = 19.33). We collected data on child abuse and neglect using questionnaires, measured cortisol and cortisone concentrations in hair, and BMI. In a structural model, the effects of abuse and neglect on hair cortisol, hair cortisone, and BMI were tested, as well as the covariance between hair cortisol and BMI, and hair cortisone and BMI.ResultsWithin the sample, 23% were overweight but not obese and 14% were obese. Higher levels of experienced abuse were related to higher cortisone concentrations in hair (β = 0.24, p < .001) and higher BMI (β = 0.17, p =.04). Neglect was not related to hair cortisol, hair cortisone, or BMI. Hair cortisol and cortisone did not mediate the association between maltreatment, and BMI. Sensitivity analyses demonstrate the same pattern of results in a subsample of adult participants currently not living with their parents. However, in younger participants who were still living with their parents, the associations between abuse and cortisone (β = 0.14, p =.35) and abuse and BMI (β = 0.02, p =.92) were no longer significant.Conclusion
These findings confirm that experiencing abuse is related to higher BMI but suggest that hair cortisol and cortisone are not the mechanism underlying the association between child maltreatment and BMI. This is the first study to show abuse may be associated to elevated concentrations of hair cortisone—evidence of long-term alterations in chronic stress levels. Future research may benefit from exploring the effects of maltreatment on weight gain in longitudinal designs, including measures of other potential mediators such as eating as a coping mechanism, and more direct indicators of metabolic health.
... Ten aanzien van het declaratieve geheugen is altijd gedacht dat zeer jonge kinderen niet in staat zijn expliciete geheugensporen te vormen. Hayne (2004) laat in een review echter zien dat het declaratieve geheugen in de eerste twee jaar van ons leven in snel tempo toeneemt. Kinderen van één tot anderhalf jaar oud hebben ongeveer de helft minder presentatietijd nodig om een aantal doelgerichte handelingen te onthouden dan zuigelingen van 6 maanden. ...
Geheugen Marc Hendriks, Reinilda Dernison en Claudia König 6.1 Inleiding Leren en geheugen zijn fundamentele aspecten van de cognitieve ontwik-keling en zullen dan ook op enigerlei wijze in vele hoofdstukken van dit boek aan de orde komen. De eerste zintuiglijke waarnemingen van een kind zullen immers moeten leiden tot herkenning op een later moment, door veranderingen in de hersenen. Klankperceptie is essentieel voor de taal-ontwikkeling en het leren spreken en lezen. Het uitvoeren van motorische handelingen is van groot belang bij het leren van allerlei vaardigheden zoals fietsen, zwemmen en schrijven. Veel van deze ervaringen leiden uiteindelijk tot (permanente) veranderingen in de hersenen, die met plasticiteit worden aangeduid. De gedragsveranderingen als resultaat hiervan worden leren genoemd (Eling & Kessels, 2008). Leren wordt, als het om de ontwikke-ling van kinderen gaat, veelvuldig in allerlei betekenissen gebruikt. Zo leert een kind bijvoorbeeld fietsen, praten en rekenen, maar moet het ook leren luisteren als een sociale vaardigheid. Als we vaststellen dat de basis van deze buitengewone neurocognitieve capaciteit in de vroegste dagen van ons leven ligt en dat juist van de geheu-genfuncties de grootste ontwikkeling wordt geëist, is het des te opmerke-lijker dat er vanuit de neuropsychologie relatief weinig aandacht is voor de geheugenfuncties in de kinderleeftijd. Zowel wetenschappelijk als in de klinische praktijk gaat onterecht de meeste aandacht uit naar geheu-genfuncties en geheugenstoornissen bij volwassenen. Bij kinderen wordt geheugen nog vaak synoniem gesteld met leren, waarmee veelal uitsluitend het schoolse leren wordt bedoeld. Zoals in dit hoofdstuk duidelijk zal worden, is de dynamiek en flexibi-liteit van de ontwikkeling van het geheugen de basis van onze cognitieve en motorische ontwikkeling, maar ook van onze persoonlijkheid door het besef van een persoonlijk verleden en wie we zijn. We zullen in de eerste Klinische Kinder boek 4.indd 147
... While the paradigm developed by Krøjgaard et al. (2017) has been used to successfully induce spontaneous recall in young children, the criterion that a spontaneous memory should be verbally produced results in an age threshold when testing children using this paradigm. Other paradigms for testing infant memory (e.g., the Visual Paired-Comparison test or the imitation paradigm) have in some sense also been used to document spontaneous (that is, 'unprompted') memory even in infancy (for an overview see Hayne, 2004). Nevertheless, Krøjgaard et al.'s (2017) paradigm was developed as a test of explicit memory to contrast the two types of retrieval. ...
An experimental paradigm has shown that it is possible to activate spontaneous memories in children by having them re-visit the setting in which they were introduced to a memorable event. Nevertheless, the most important cues for spontaneous recall remain undetermined. In response, we investigated the importance of the experimenter by introducing 35-month-olds (n = 62) and 46-month-olds (n = 62) to the same or a new person after one week. We expected that altering the experimenter would result in fewer recollections through reducing the overlap of cues between encoding and testing. In contrast, the manipulation affected the two age groups differently: no effect of condition was seen in the 35-month-olds, whereas the 46-month-olds performed better, when the experimenter had changed, suggesting a sensitivity to change and an ability to update their knowledge of the event. We replicated previous findings demonstrating that both age groups exhibited spontaneous recollections.
... Activity-dependent phosphorylation of these Ser residues is important for regulating the delivery and stabilization of AMPARs at synapses and singlechannel conductance, and thus for long-term plasticity [28][29][30][31] . We suggested that the higher levels of activity/plasticity proteins in baseline conditions at PN17 compared with those of more mature and especially adult ages are not the result of default developmental processes, but reflect learning-induced activations 24 , in agreement with the observations that infants display high rates of learning 3,9 . ...
The mechanisms underlying the maturation of learning and memory abilities are poorly understood. Here we show that episodic learning produces unique biological changes in the hippocampus of infant rats and mice compared to juveniles and adults. These changes include persistent neuronal activation, BDNF-dependent increase in the excitatory synapse markers synaptophysin and PSD-95, and significant maturation of AMPA receptor synaptic responses. Inhibition of PSD-95 induction following learning impairs both AMPA receptor response maturation and infantile memory, indicating that the synapse formation/maturation is necessary for creating infantile memories. Conversely, capturing the learning-induced changes by presenting a subsequent learning experience or by chemogenetic activation of the neural ensembles tagged by learning matures memory functional competence. This memory competence is selective for the type of experience encountered, as it transfers within similar hippocampus-dependent learning domains but not to other hippocampus-dependent types of learning. Thus, experiences in early life produce selective maturation of memory abilities. The mechanisms underlying the maturation of learning and memory abilities are poorly understood. Here, authors show that episodic learning produces persistent neuronal activation, BDNF-dependent increase in excitatory synapse markers (synaptophysin and PSD-95), and significant maturation of AMPA receptor synaptic responses in the hippocampus of infant rats and mice compared to juveniles and adults.
... However, literature examining whether trauma characteristics predict distinct PTSD responses to frontline PTSD interventions remains unclear, and research examining these interventions' impact on SUD responses is minimal. Given that memories from early in the lifespan are less coherent than later ones (e.g., Hayne, 2004), exposure-based interventions that rely on traumatic memory processing, such as prolonged exposure, (PE; Foa, Hembree, & Rothbaum, 2007) could be less effective in early trauma survivors. Nevertheless, studies have not shown that childhood trauma survivors exhibit different PTSD treatment responses following PE (Jaycox, Foa, & Morral, 1998) and behavioral, psychoeducational, and expressive therapies (Ford & Kidd, 1998), compared to adulthood trauma survivors. ...
Proponents of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) constructs suggest that specific trauma characteristics, such as earlier age of first trauma (trauma age) and higher number of traumas (trauma count), may obstruct PTSD symptom reduction in treatment. PTSD and substance use disorders (SUD) commonly co-occur, but the impact of trauma age and count on PTSD treatment responses in a comorbid PTSD and SUD sample is unclear. Further, no studies have examined the impact of trauma characteristics on SUD treatment outcomes or whether their impact on either PTSD or SUD outcomes varies if PTSD is directly addressed. A secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial was conducted to examine: (1) whether trauma age and count influence comorbid PTSD and SUD (PTSD+SUD) responses during and following treatment; and (2) whether these effects differed across an exposure-based, integrated PTSD+SUD treatment (Concurrent Treatment of PTSD and Substance Use Disorders using Prolonged Exposure; COPE) and a SUD-only focused treatment (Relapse Prevention Therapy; RPT). Individuals with PTSD+SUD randomized to COPE (n = 39) or RPT (n = 43) provided weekly measurements of PTSD and SUD. Across COPE and RPT, earlier trauma age predicted reduced SUD improvement (B = -0.01, standard error = 0.00). Trauma count did not predict changes in PTSD or SUD during or following treatment. These findings suggest that excluding individuals from exposure-based, integrated treatments on the basis of trauma characteristics is not empirically supported. However, individuals with earlier trauma ages may require additional or unique clinical attention to improve their SUD outcomes.
... Il bambino sembrava, infatti, utilizzare schemi inizialmente rigidi e strettamente connessi agli ambiti di acquisizione. Recentemente gli studi elaborati da Hayen (2004) hanno messo in discussione questa attribuzione temporale poiché, attivando specifiche condizioni esperienziali, è possibile rilevare approcci flessibili e diversificati già nei primi anni dell'infanzia. ...
This entry examines the emergence and development of memory during infancy and early childhood. It provides an overview of the structure and core processes of long‐term memory as well as commonly used nonverbal (conditioning, preferential looking, imitation, hide‐and‐seek) and verbal (event memory, source memory, autobiographical memory) paradigms to assess memory in developmental populations. Some consistent principles of early memory development have emerged from these various measures. The entry highlights contributions of basic capacities (encoding, storage, retrieval, binding) and advanced cognitive processes (working memory, metamemory, memory strategies) to ontogenetic changes in memory. Potential mechanisms and sources of variation in memory development are also considered, including neural maturation, varied experience, sleep, self‐concept, socialization, and language. The future of the field is discussed with a focus on the integration of multiple areas of specialization; this approach provides a more holistic understanding of the contributing factors and underlying mechanisms of memory development.
Proposta: Mentes, Máquinas e Música: Considerações interdisciplinares sobre a ciência, a tecnologia e a arte da comunicação expressiva musical Título: Mentes, Máquinas e Música: Considerações interdisciplinares sobre a ciência, a tecnologia e a arte da comunicação expressiva musical Perfil da obra: Divulgação científica ou cultural Resumo do livro: Mentes, Máquinas e Música é um livro que traz considerações embasadas na trajetória acadêmica do autor sobre a interveniência, a intersecção e a interação entre estas três grandes áreas do conhecimento e atuação humana; a mente humana, a tecnologia e a expressão musical. Como estes são vastos campos, seria praticamente impossível cobrir tamanha extensão numa única obra. Precisaríamos de infindáveis ensaios sobre cada aspecto destas relações interdisciplinares para sequer arranhar a superfície desta inter-relação, onde sempre seria possível seguir trilhando por novas veredas, nas fronteiras entre as infindáveis e portanto sempre pouco conhecidas correspondências entre estas áreas do conhecimento e da expressão humana. Por isso, este trabalho tem a pretensão de apenas apresentar algumas possíveis questões e conjecturas dentro desta problemática, embasadas em referências acadêmicas. A ordenação destas considerações, conforme apresentadas neste trabalho, não é casual. Esta expressa a sequência natural de suas origens e desenvolvimentos, iniciando pelos processos mentais, enveredando pelo ferramental tecnológico e culminando na expressividade artística, em especial a da música. De fato, tudo parece iniciar na mente, ainda que esta seja inefável, não se sabendo ao certo o que é de fato a mente humana, onde esta se localiza e como surgem seus insights. Por simplicidade, entende-se, neste trabalho, o termo "mente" como se tratando do processamento informacional do cérebro que transpõe o próprio indivíduo; a atividade imaterial e dinâmica que se expressa na forma de consciência, pensamentos e emoções, fundamentalmente dependente da interação social que molda a experiência objetiva e subjetiva de cada indivíduo e assim orienta o desenvolvimento da sociedade humana. É nesse fluxo informacional entre mentes que as máquinas são concebidas como extensões das capacidades humanas. É através das máquinas que a mente ganha maior alcance para a sua criação e expressão, tanto através da linguagem quanto através da música, estendendo-se das ciências às artes. Máquinas são aqui entendidas como sendo os artefatos das nossas mentes, que ampliam nossa capacidade de observação, ação e expressão. De modo bastante reducionista, a primeira e mais fundamental "máquina" da mente é o "cérebro"; o incrível processador adaptativo que, por sua vez, controla a "máquina" monumental que é o nosso corpo. Quando se pergunta a uma criança onde está o seu "eu", esta normalmente aponta para a sua cabeça ou para a sua barriga. É nesses lugares que se encontram duas grandes concentrações de processamento neural (e portanto mental): o encéfalo, na cabeça, e o sistema nervoso entérico, conhecido como o nosso "segundo cérebro", localizado do sistema gástrico. São nesses locais que sentimos a todo momento estar localizada a nossa sensação e noção de expressão, vontade e individualidade. Curiosamente, também podemos dizer "a minha mente" referindo-se aos processos informacionais que constituem as miríades de pensamentos que nos ocorrem mas que não nos identificam; similar aos objetos e processos que podemos observar a distância. Do mesmo modo que observamos os nossos braços, podemos observar nossos pensamentos e emoções, como pertencentes a nós mas não exatamente parte do que vem a ser o nosso conceito ou sensação de "eu". Nos acostumamos a colocar sobre o nosso corpo camadas de artefatos; as roupas, os calçados e eventuais adornos, que cumprem e mesclam propósitos pragmáticos, sociais e estéticos. Também nos valemos de equipamentos funcionais, como óculos, celulares e veículos, os quais, com a prática de sua utilização frequente, passam a ser percebidos por nós como se fossem extensões do nosso próprio corpo.
Successful social interactions rely on flexibly tracking and revising others’ beliefs. These can be revised prospectively, new events leading to new beliefs, or retrospectively, when realizing that an attribution may have been incorrect. However, whether infants are capable of such belief revisions is an open question. We tested whether 18-month-olds can revise an attributed FB into a TB when they learn that a person may have witnessed an event that they initially thought she could not see. Infants first observed Experimenter 1 (E1) hiding two objects into two boxes. Then E1 left the room, and the locations of the objects were swapped. Infants then accompanied Experimenter 2 (E2) to the adjacent room. In the FB-revised-to-TB condition, infants observed E1 peeking into the experimental room through a one-way mirror, whereas in the FB-stays-FB condition, they observed E1 reading a book. After returning to the experimental room E1 requested an object by pointing to one of the boxes. In the FB-stays-FB condition, most infants chose the non-referred box, congruently with the agent’s FB. However, in the FB-revised-to-TB condition, most infants chose the other, referred box. Thus, 18-month-olds revised an already attributed FB after receiving evidence that this attribution might have been wrong.
Whereas infants’ ability to remember simple static material (e.g., pictures) has been documented extensively, we know surprisingly little about infants’ memory of dynamic events (i.e., events unfolding in time) in the first year after birth. Although there is evidence to suggest that infants show some kind of sensitivity toward complex dynamic events (i.e., events involving agents and a storyline) as indicated by visual engagement in the first year after birth, 16- to 18-month-olds are hitherto the youngest infants documented to remember such material. Using a visual paired-comparison (VPC) task, in Experiment 1 we examined 6-, 10-, and 12-month-olds’ (N = 108) ability to encode and remember cartoons involving complex dynamic events across 2 weeks. Results showed that all age groups remembered these cartoons. To investigate further the role of a complex storyline, in Experiment 2 we assessed the memory of 107 infants of the same age groups for similar cartoons but without coherent storyline information by scrambling the temporal presentation of the information in the cartoons. The results showed that the two youngest age groups did not remember this version. To our knowledge, this is the first experiment to document memory for such complex material in young infants using VPC.
Imagine the following scenario (inspired by true events): We are grocery shopping with our friend Anita, who notices a woman down the aisle and waves and smiles at her. The woman looks confused and walks away. Perplexed, Anita tells us that she spent the previous day training the woman, a new employee at their firm, and is surprised by her behavior because she thought they had established a friendly rapport. We suggest a possible explanation: Perhaps the woman did not recognize Anita outside of work. Later at the checkout line, we notice the woman standing with someone who is obviously her identical twin. In light of this new information, we revise our initial explanation: Anita must have waved at her trainee’s twin, falsely believing her to be her trainee, and the twin responded with confusion because she had never met Anita before. Anita then joins us at the checkout, one of the twins waves happily to her, and the mystery is resolved with smiles all around.
Face recognition is an important mnemonic ability for infants when navigating the social world. While age-related changes in face processing abilities are relatively well documented, less is known about short-term intra-individual fluctuations in this ability. Given that sleep deprivation in adults leads to impairments in information processing, we assessed the role of prior sleep on 6-month-old infants’ (N = 17) visual recognition of faces showing three emotional expressions (neutral, sad, angry). Visual recognition was inferred by assessing novelty preferences for unfamiliar relative to familiarized faces in a visual recognition memory paradigm. In a within-subject design, infants participated once after they had recently woken up from a nap (nap condition) and once after they had been awake for an extended period of time (awake condition). Infants failed to show visual recognition for the neutral faces in either condition. Infants showed recognition for the sad and angry faces when tested in the awake condition, but not in the nap condition. This suggests that timing of prior sleep shapes how effectively infants process emotionally relevant information in their environment.
From early to middle childhood, brain regions that underlie memory consolidation undergo profound maturational changes. However, there is little empirical investigation that directly relates age-related differences in brain structural measures to the memory consolidation processes. The present study examined system-level memory consolidations of intentionally studied object-location associations after one night of sleep (short delay) and after two weeks (long delay) in normally developing 5-to-7-year-old children (n = 50) and young adults (n = 39). Behavioural differences in memory consolidation were related to structural brain measures. Our results showed that children, in comparison to young adults, consolidate correctly learnt object-location associations less robustly over short and long delay. Moreover, using partial least squares correlation method, a unique multivariate profile comprised of specific neocortical (prefrontal, parietal, and occipital), cerebellar, and hippocampal subfield structures was found to be associated with variation in short-delay memory consolidation. A different multivariate profile comprised of a reduced set of brain structures, mainly consisting of neocortical (prefrontal, parietal, and occipital), and selective hippocampal subfield structures (CA1-2 and subiculum) was associated with variation in long-delay memory consolidation. Taken together, the results suggest that multivariate structural pattern of unique sets of brain regions are related to variations in short- and long-delay memory consolidation across children and young adults.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
Short- and long-delay memory consolidation is less robust in children than in young adults
Short-delay brain profile comprised of hippocampal, cerebellar, and neocortical brain regions
Long-delay brain profile comprised of neocortical and selected hippocampal brain regions.
Brain profiles differ between children and young adults.
The aim of this study was to evaluate comparatively three different approach of material used for making 3D topography modelling that need to sink in the water tank to achieved students understanding of topography character through the method. The three-different approach of material used for 3D topography modelling were considered; plasticine modelling, which contains fully 100% plasticine in the process of making the model, half plasticine modelling, which combination between plasticine and Styrofoam as both are in equal quantity materials: and minor plasticine modelling, which the use of plasticine is about 30% and other is using a recycle materials. A comparison of different approach of material used for 3D Model shows the different result in aspects of the model's resilience, material cost and the rate of sinking in the water tank. Based on the empirical test, the relative performance of the varies material approach use is assessed. From the three-different approach of material uses that we analyses in this study, the minor plasticine 3D modelling is showed the best approach of materials used in the context of knowledge, quality and the process. Moreover, this method more legible in terms of understanding level of topography through the model making. This study intends also to select which 3D models, the students will employ in future assessment for the analysis of understanding through 3D topography model.
En el ámbito de la gestión deportiva, la calidad de los servicios deportivos y la satisfacción de los usua-rios son un área de gran desarrollo. Este trabajo pretende determinar el grado de calidad percibida en los servicios deportivos extraescolares de la ciudad de Torrevieja (Alicante). Para ello se analizaron 2.050 usuarios que contes-taron un cuestionario sobre valoración de calidad del servicio recibido. El cuestionario está compuesto por un conjunto de ítems sobre cuatro grandes ámbitos: a) información que tienen padres, monitores, profesores y niños sobre las prácticas deportivas extraescolares, b) valoración que realizan padres, monitores, profesores y niños sobre las instalaciones deportivas, c) opinión sobre el costo económico de las actividades deportivas practicadas en el centro escolar y fuera de este, y, por último, d) opinión sobre la organización y las responsabilidades de las actividades extraescolares. De manera general, podemos afirmar que los servicios ofrecidos fuera del centro escolar son mejores que los ofrecidos por los colegios. Una mayor práctica física extraescolar está relacionada con mejores condiciones de conservación, limpieza, comodidad, horario y atención del personal de las instalaciones deportivas. Una mayor práctica física extraescolar está relacionada con una valoración positiva del costo económico de la actividad deportiva. Palabras clave. Satisfacción de los usuarios, servicios deportivos extraescolares, instalaciones deportivas.
Summary. In the field of sports management, the quality of sports services and user satisfaction is an area of great development. This paper aims to determine the level of quality in extracurricular sports services in the city of Torrevieja (Alicante). The authors analyzed 2050 users and answered a questionnaire assessing quality of care. The questionnaire consists of a set of items on 4 major areas: a) information with parents, instructors, teachers and children about extracurricular sports practices, b) assessment carried out by parents, instructors, teachers and children about the sports facilities; c) review the economic cost of the sports practiced in school and out of this, and finally, d) review the organization and responsibilities of school activities. In general, we can say that the services offered outside the school are better than those offered by colleges. A higher school physical practice is related to better storage conditions, cleanliness, comfort, time and personal attention of sports facilities. A higher school physical practice is related to a positive assessment of the economic cost of the sport.
Although children’s science television shows aim to educate young audiences, a recent content analysis found that these shows are mostly animated and often depict science information anthropomorphically. An experiment examined the implications of these depictions for children’s learning and transfer of scientific information. Preschoolers viewed two videos about insect communication from a popular children’s television show that contained either realistic or anthropomorphic visuals of insects. Results indicated that initial learning from the show did not differ between conditions. However, one week later, children who viewed the show with realistic visuals were more likely to transfer what they learned to real insects, whereas children who viewed the show with anthropomorphic visuals were more likely to attribute humanlike characteristics to real insects. Contrary to predictions, these effects were not mediated by children’s attention to the show or their reality judgments of the factual content.
In the visual paired-comparison task, which has been used to demonstrate memory abilities in human infants, Ss view pairs of pictures and then view new pictures paired with old ones. Memory is demonstrated when Ss spend more time looking at new pictures than at old ones. In a series of studies involving amnesic patients and normal Ss, the authors evaluated what kind of memory is exhibited in this task. The results suggest that performance ordinarily depends on the brain structures essential for declarative memory. These and other findings suggest that the visual paired-comparison test also depends on declarative memory when the task is given to human infants. Thus, successful performance on this task by infants probably reflects an early capacity for declarative memory. The relevance of these findings to the phenomenon of infantile amnesia is discussed.
The title of this book—infant memory—appears straightforward. On reflection, however, it becomes apparent that the term memory applies to many different facets of an organism’s ability to conserve and utilize the effects of its experiences. The multiple senses in which memory can be, and has been, used range from what Piaget and Inhelder (1973) labeled “memory in the wide sense,” including acquisition of skills, vocabulary, and adaptive responses, to what they labeled “memory in the strict sense”— the ability to consciously reflect on a specific incident in one’s personal past. Few would deny that it is possible to use the term memory in the foregoing manners. What are the consequences for the study of infant memory?
The authors provide a new framework that integrates autobiographical memory with other early achievements (e.g., gesturing, language, concept formation). In this theory, the emergence and early development of autobiographical memory does not require the invocation of specialized neurological or multiple memory mechanisms but rather arises as a natural consequence of developments in related domains including in the ''software'' that drives general memory functioning. In particular, autobiographical memory emerges contemporaneously with the cognitive self, a knowledge structure whose features serve to organize memories of experiences that happened to ''me.'' Because this cognitive self emerges in the 2nd year of life, the lower limit for early autobiographical memories is set at about 2 years, with subsequent accumulation of memories linked to improvements in children's ability to maintain information in storage.
Simple delay classical eyeblink conditioning, using a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) and airpuff unconditioned stimulus (US), was studied in cross-sectional samples of 4-and 5-month-old healthy, full-term infants. Infants received two identical training sessions, 1 week apart. At both ages, infants experiencing paired tones and air-puffs demonstrated successful conditioning over two sessions, relative to control subjects who had unpaired training. Conditioning was not evident, however, during the first session. Two additional groups of 5-month-olds received varied experiences during Session 1, either unpaired presentations of the CS and US or no stimulus exposure, fol-lowed by paired conditioning during Session 2. Results from these groups suggest that the higher level of conditioning observed follow-ing two sessions of paired conditioning was not the result of familiar-ity with the testing environment or the stimuli involved but, rather, the result of retention of associative learning not expressed during the first conditioning session. Classical eyeblink conditioning has become a successful paradigm for studying cognitive and neural processes underlying learning and memory in several species, including humans. The majority of human studies have involved young or aged adult populations (e.g. Woodruff-Pak & Thompson, 1988). There have been relatively few studies of human infants and young children despite their potential for yielding fundamentally important information about the early devel-opment of cognitive and neural processes underlying associative learn-ing, and despite the potential for eyeblink conditioning to become an important tool for assessing neurocognitive development in infants at high risk for neurobehavioral disorders. A few researchers have report-ed successful eyeblink conditioning in human infants and children (e.g., Fitzgerald & Brackbill, 1976; Little, Lipsitt, & Rovee-Collier, 1984; Ohlrich & Ross, 1968), but little parametric work has been con-ducted, and none of the work traces the development of eyeblink con-ditioning phenomena over a substantial span of human infancy. Recently, we have been developing procedures for studying eye-blink conditioning in 4-and 5-month-old human infants. Eventually, we expect that these procedures can be adapted for use over a broader age range, be used with infants at high risk for central nervous system damage, and enable complementary studies of eyeblink conditioning in human infants and developing rat pups (Stanton & Freeman, 1994). A first study (Ivkovich, Collins, Eckerman, Krasnegor, & Stanton, 1997) yielded only weak evidence of conditioning in infants given one session of paired training at either 4 or 5 months of age. A small sub-set of the infants receiving their first session at 4 months of age returned for a second paired training session 1 month later, however, and showed increased levels of conditioning that appeared to be the result of some aspect of their earlier training experience rather than developmental change. In the present study, we sought to replicate the finding of robust delay conditioning over two training sessions, but with training sessions only a week apart; establish whether the improved conditioning during the second session was the result of the retention of associative learning during the first session; and relate these findings to similar data obtained for rat pups (Stanton, Fox, & Carter, 1998).
Abstract Research examining the relation between explicit and implicit forms of memory has generated a great deal of evidence concerning the issue of multiple memory systems. This article focuses on an extensively studied implicit memory phenomenon, known as direct or repetition priming, and examines the hypothesis that priming effects on various tasks reflect the operation of a perceptual representation system (PRS)-a class of cortically based subsystems that operate at a presemantic level and support non conscious expressions of memory. Three PRS subsystems are examined: visual word form, structural description, and auditory word form. Pertinent cognitive, neuropsychological, and neurobiological evidence is reviewed, alternative classificatory schemes are discussed, and important conceptual and terminological issues are considered.
Relations between infant information processing and specific cognitive outcomes at 11 years were examined in a sample of preterms and full-terms followed longitudinally (N = 90). Infancy measures, obtained at 7-months and 1-year, included visual and tactual recognition memory, crossmodal transfer, object permanence, and visual attention; eleven-year measures included perceptual speed, memory, spatial ability, verbal ability, and IQ. Two of the infancy measures (7-month visual recognition memory and 1-year cross-modal transfer) predicted 11-year IQ. Most of the infancy measures were related to perceptual speed, even with IQ controlled, and were selectively related to other 11-year abilities, independent of both speed and IQ. These findings reinforce the notion of cognitive continuity from infancy. Specifically they suggest that the infancy measures share a common core (perceptual speed) but that some of the measures may also tap other conceptually distinct abilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This is a historical account of the partnership in which J. Bowlby and M. S. Ainsworth participated to develop attachment theory and research. Beginning with their separate approaches to understanding personality development before Ainsworth joined Bowlby's research team at the Tavistock Clinic in London for 4 years, it describes the origins of the ethological approach that they adopted. After Ainsworth left London, her research in Uganda and in Baltimore lent empirical support to Bowlby's theoretical constructions. This article shows how their contributions to attachment theory and research interdigitated in a partnership that endured for 40 years across time and distance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study evaluated the psychological mechanisms underlying imitation of facial actions in young infants. A novel aspect of the study was that it used a nonoral gesture that had not been tested before (head movement), as well as a tongue-protrusion gesture. Results showed imitation of both displays. Imitation was not limited to the intervals during which the experimenter's movements were displayed; Ss also imitated from memory after the display had stopped. The results established that newborn imitation is not constrained to a few privileged oral movements. The findings support Meltzoff and Moore's hypothesis that early imitation is mediated by an active cross-modal matching process. A common representational code may unite the perception and production of basic human acts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Previous research has shown that 16- and 20-mo-old children recall action sequences depicting familiar, script-based events, and also novel event sequences, in the correct temporal order. In 2 experiments, elicited imitation was used to assess 11.5- and 13.5-mo-olds' immediate recall of familiar and novel event sequences. In Exp 1, 13.5-mo-olds were tested on 2- and 3-act sequences depicting both familiar and novel events. They reliably recalled the event sequences in the correct temporal order. In Exp 2, the results were extended to 11.5-mo-olds: They accurately recalled 2-act sequences depicting familiar and novel events. Results demonstrate that by late in the 1st yr of life, children are able to accurately remember (1) specific sequences depicting familiar events and (2) novel event sequences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investigated the suggestion that young infants show a preference for familiar stimuli that is supplanted by a preference for novel stimuli as they get older and the act of recognition becomes commonplace. In Study 1, 84 Ss (3.5, 4.5, and 6.5 mo old) were tested for visual recognition memory of shapes, using the paired comparison procedure. The 3.5-mo-olds showed a strong preference for the familiar, whereas the older Ss preferred the novel stimulus. In Study 2 with 72 3.5- and 6.5-mo-old Ss, these shifts were found to depend more on familiarization time than on age. Ss of both ages showed a preference for the familiar stimulus after limited exposure to it but shifted to a preference for the novel stimulus after more extended exposure. It is concluded that regardless of age, infants prefer to look at that which is familiar as they begin to process a stimulus; once processing becomes more advanced, their preference shifts to the novel. Findings are therefore contrary to the developmental view investigated. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Six-month-old infants trained in an operant conditioning procedure were allowed to forget the contingency and were presented with a reminder in a memory-reactivation paradigm. The time course of memory retrieval after the reminder, the relation between the forgetting functions of the newly acquired and the reactivated memory, and the potential contribution of the context to retention after long delays were investigated. Memory retrieval was found to be a time-locked process at 6 months, as at 3 months. Although retrieval was more rapid at the older age, the reactivated memory was more transient than the newly acquired memory at 6 months and remained accessible for a briefer period than at 3 months. A distinctive context was requisite for memory reactivation at 6 months but did not insure it. These studies reveal that the temporal parameters of memory processing change with age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A pervasive part of the Piagetian legacy is the belief that fundamental changes in the representation of knowledge occur over the course of development. The most dramatic shift in the representational system is said to take place at the end of infancy (the sensorimotor period). This shift can be understood as a change from merely knowing how to also knowing that. In other words, it is a shift from a procedural to a declarative form of representation (J. Mandler, 1983). As conceived by Piaget, the infant has no representation of the world other than sets of motor and perceptual procedures, that is, mechanisms for acting and for recognizing things. Altogether lacking, in this view, are sets of concepts about the world, gathered together into categories or other abstract formats and accessible to thought independently of familiar recognitory or motor routines.
Infants between 12 and 21 days of age can imitate both facial and manual gestures; this behavior cannot be explained in terms of either conditioning or innate releasing mechanisms. Such imitation implies that human neonates can equate their own unseen behaviors with gestures they see others perform.
Studies of learning within the first year of life are scarce and tend to be products of single attempts—some successful and some not—to demonstrate classical and operant conditioning phenomena. Few of these studies have involved systematic manipulation of variables known to affect the acquisition rate of learned behavior. Evidence seems ample that learning occurs within the first three weeks of human life, quite probably within the first few days, but experimental procedures for its stable establishment have not yet been explored fully or refined sufficiently. Recent advances in the design and construction of stimulating and recording equipment, as well as a current resurgence of interest in early learning behavior, will probably impel more intensive studies of infant learning by increasing the number of researchers. Infant learning techniques utilized by others—along with suggestive but as yet relatively inconclusive data—are presented in this chapter. Refinements in some of these techniques are required and could result in the acquisition of important knowledge about infant learning. In addition, such research is likely to make interesting contributions to general psychology, for no personality or developmental theory is without assumptions concerning the early learning process and the role of early learning in the determination of later behavior. Some observations are made concerning definitional and methodological issues within the field of learning that are or should be of as much concern to the experimental child psychologist as to researchers with animals.
Relations between infant information processing and specific cognitive outcomes at 11 years were examined in a sample of preterms and full-terms followed longitudinally (N = 90). Infancy measures, obtained at 7-months and 1-year, included visual and tactual recognition memory, cross-modal transfer, object permanence, and visual attention; eleven-year measures included perceptual speed, memory, spatial ability, verbal ability, and IQ. Two of the infancy measures (7-month visual recognition memory and 1-year cross-modal transfer) predicted 11-year IQ. Most of the infancy measures were related to perceptual speed, even with IQ controlled, and were selectively related to other 11-year abilities, independent of both speed and IQ. These findings reinforce the notion of cognitive continuity from infancy. Specifically they suggest that the infancy measures share a common core-perceptual speed-but that some of the measures may also tap other conceptually distinct abilities.
Studies have shown that procedures that tap long-term memory yield a picture of infant memory radically different from that provided by paradigms involving measures of visual attention. Not only can 2- to 3-month-old infants recognize a specific cue, but they also can remember its predictive significance. In addition, their long-term memories are highly specific. Whether they remember or not on any given occasion depends upon the context, both proximal and distal, in which the retrieval cue is encountered. However, infants' memories are hierarchically organized. They forget specific details of the proximal context more rapidly than its general features; as this occurs, they increasingly exploit distal contextual cues. Distal contextual information sharpens their discrimination of the test situation after increasingly longer delays, thereby protecting the original memory against retrieval in an inappropriate context.
The performance of amnesic patients was assessed on five tasks, which have figured prominently in the development of animal models of human amnesia in the monkey. The amnesic patients were impaired on four of these tasks (delayed nonmatchingto sample, object-reward association, 8-pair concurrent discrimination learning, and an object discrimination task), in correspondenc e with previous findings for monkeys with bilateral medial temporal or diencephalic lesions. Moreover, performance of the amnesic patients correlated with the ability to verbalize the principle underlying the tasks and with the ability to describe and recognize the stimulus materials. These tasks therefore seem to be sensitive to the memory functions that are affected in human amnesia, and they can provide valid measures of memory impairment in studies with monkeys. For the fifth task (24-hour concurrent discrimination learning), the findings for the amnesic patients did not correspond to previous findings for operated monkeys. Whereas monkeys with medial temporal lesions reportedly learn this task at a normal rate, the amnesic patients were markedly impaired. Monkeys may learn this task differently than humans.
Previous research has shown that 16- and 20-month-old children recall action sequences depicting familiar, script-based events, and also novel event sequences, in the correct temporal order. In 2 experiments, elicited imitation was used to assess 11.5- and 13.5-month-olds' immediate recall of familiar and novel event sequences. In Experiment 1, 13.5-month-olds were tested on 2-act and 3-act sequences depicting both familiar and novel events. They reliably recalled the event sequences in the correct temporal order. In Experiment 2, the results were extended to 11.5-month-olds: They accurately recalled 2-act sequences depicting familiar and novel events. The results demonstrate that by late in the 1st year of life, children are able to accurately remember (a) specific sequences depicting familiar events and (b) novel event sequences.
The results of these studies indicated that children younger than 1 year possess the cognitive capability of translating a perception of a novel action into their own behavior. However, the likelihood of imitation varied as a function of the nature of the target behavior. For example, actions requiring direct social commerce with the examiner were imitated less frequently than simple motor behaviors with objects, and reproducing gestures was more common than vocalizations. Moreover, imitation seemed to depend upon the child's level of mental development-the imitation of coordinated sequences, which requires the child to associate two external events, lagged behind the imitation of single-unit behaviors. There was no evidence for individual traits of general imitativeness, at least not until symbolic relations were involved. Live models were imitated more than TV models but only prior to age 3. While children under 2 years of age were not facile at imitating sequences of behaviors or delaying performance a short time after modeling, older toddlers readily and accurately imitated televised sequences even after a 24-hour delay. Whereas socially extroverted and fearless children imitated live models more than shy children, TV imitation was not related to temperament, home TV viewing habits, or parental education. Finally, the experience of being imitated may facilitate the social cognition of influencing another person.
Abstract The topic of multiple forms of memory is considered from a biological point of view. Fact-and-event (declarative, explicit) memory is contrasted with a collection of non conscious (non-declarative, implicit) memory abilities including skills and habits, priming, and simple conditioning. Recent evidence is reviewed indicating that declarative and non declarative forms of memory have different operating characteristics and depend on separate brain systems. A brain-systems framework for understanding memory phenomena is developed in light of lesion studies involving rats, monkeys, and humans, as well as recent studies with normal humans using the divided visual field technique, event-related potentials, and positron emission tomography (PET).
Long-term recall memory, as indexed by deferred imitation, was assessed in 12-month-old infants. Independent groups of infants were tested after retention intervals of 3 min, 1 week and 4 weeks. Deferred imitation was assessed using the 'observation-only' procedure in which infants were not allowed motor practice on the tasks before the delay was imposed. Thus, the memory could not have been based on re-accessing a motor habit, because none was formed in the first place. After the delay, memory was assessed either in the same or a different environmental context from the one in which the adult had originally demonstrated the acts. In Experiments 1 and 3, infants observed the target acts while in an unusual environment (an orange and white polka-dot tent), and recall memory was tested in an ordinary room. In Experiment 2, infants observed the target acts in their homes and were tested for memory in a university room. The results showed recall memory after all retention intervals, including the 4 week delay, with no effect of context change. Interestingly, the forgetting function showed that the bulk of the forgetting occurred during the first week. The findings of recall memory without motor practice support the view that infants as young as 12 months old use a declarative (nonprocedural) memory system to span delay intervals as long as 4 weeks.
A laboratory procedure is developed that can be used to assess imitation in the second year of life. The procedure uses a blind scoring technique and incorporates control conditions to distinguish infant imitation from spontaneous production of the target behavior. The procedure is used in 2 experiments evaluating the imitation of a simple action with a novel toy. The experiments assess both immediate and deferred imitation in each of 2 age groups, 14-month-olds and 2-year-olds. The deferred imitation task involved a 24-hour delay between the modeling and response periods. There was strong evidence that 2-year-old infants could perform both the immediate and deferred imitation tasks, which was expected. The results also showed that 14-month-olds could succeed in both tasks. The discussion considers the implications of the deferred imitation results in light of current data and theorizing concerning representational capacities and long-term memory in infancy.
Recent research on young children's memory for personal episodes provides new insights into the phenomenon of infantile amnesia, first identified by Freud. New research indicates that children learn to share memories with others, that they acquire the narrative forms of memory recounting, and that such recounts are effective in reinstating experienced memories only after the children can utilize another person's representation of an experience in language as a reinstatement of their own experience. This competence requires a level of mastery of the representational function of language that appears at the earliest in the mid to late preschool years.
NEUROPSYCHOLOGYResearchers have found that intelligence quotients (IQs) can be modified, especially early in life, depending on such factors as how parents talk to their infants, the availability and quality of infant and toddler day-care programs, and the amount of schooling a person receives. Although not everyone agrees that IQ is so easily tweaked, even some who contend that IQ is determined by genes are enthusiastic about the attempts to tease out environmental influences on IQ. Much still remains to be learned about the nature and extent of these influences. But what researchers have found so far already has important implications: The work supports the idea that racial differences in IQ are not genetically determined, and it implies that well-designed day-care programs might lower the risk of cognitive impairment and school failure in the 23% of American children who spend at least part of their childhood in poverty.
Abstract-Simple delay classical eyeblink conditioning, using a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) and airpuff unconditioned stimulus (US), was studied in cross-sectional samples of 4- and 5-month-old healthy, full-term infants. Infants received two identical training sessions, 1 week apart. At both ages, infants experiencing paired tones and air-puffs demonstrated successful conditioning over two sessions, relative to control subjects who had unpaired training. Conditioning was not evident, however, during the first session. Two additional groups of 5-month-olds received varied experiences during Session 1, either unpaired presentations of the CS and US or no stimulus exposure, fol-lowed by paired conditioning during Session 2. Results from these groups suggest that the higher level of conditioning observed following two sessions of paired conditioning was not the result of familiarity with the testing environment or the stimuli involved but, rather, the result of retention of associative learning not expressed during the first conditioning session.
Our understanding of the neural correlates involved in the development of attention and memory has lagged behind our knowledge of the behavioral manifestation of these abilities. This is unfortunate, as a more complete account of the brain bases for these aspects of development would likely contribute to a more thorough understanding of cognitive development in general. In this article we review previous studies from our laboratory examining recognition memory in 4‐, 6‐, and 8‐month‐old infants, and then describe more recent work with 12‐month‐old infants. From these data we conclude that the development of recognition memory lags behind that of attention. Specifically, by 4 months infants show event‐related potential (ERP) evidence of selectively attending to stimuli presented as briefly as 100 msec. Infants this same age are also able to distinguish a single novel stimulus from a single familiar stimulus. By 6 months, infants begin to distinguish between frequently and infrequently presented events, and between familiar and novel events presented infrequently. At 8 months, infants appear able to ignore how often events have been seen and attend instead to whether these events have been seen. Finally, 12‐month‐old infants once again appear to be drawn to event frequency, suggesting a shift in how attention and memory resources are allocated from 6 to 12 months. From these findings, we conclude that recognition memory is comprised of several subcomponents that are still not completely assembled by the end of the first year of life.
The sensorimotor theory of infancy has been overthrown, but there is little consensus on a replacement. We hypothesize that a capacity for representation is the starting point for infant development, not its culmination. Logical distinctions are drawn between object representation, identity, and permanence. Modern experiments on early object permanance and deferred imitation suggest: (a) even for young infants, representations persist over breaks in sensory contact, (b) numerical identity of objects (Os) is initially specified by spatiotemporal criteria (place and trajectory), (c) featural and functional identity criteria develop, (d) events are analyzed by comparing representations to current perception, and (e) representation operates both prospectively, anticipating future contacts with an O, and retrospectively, reidentifying an O as the “same one again”. A model of the architecture and functioning of the early representational system is proposed. It accounts for young infants' behavior toward absent people and things in terms of their efforts to determine the identity of objects. Our proposal is developmental without denying innate structure and elevates the power of perception and representation while being cautious about attributing complex concepts to young infants.
Study of the neurobiology of learning and memory is in a most exciting phase. Behavioral studies in animals are characterizing the categories and properties of learning and memory; essential memory trace circuits in the brain are being defined and localized in mammalian models; work on human memory and the brain is identifying neuronal systems involved in memory; the neuronal, neurochemical, molecular, and biophysical substrates of memory are beginning to be understood in both invertebrate and vertebrate systems; and theoretical and mathematical analysis of basic associative learning and of neuronal networks is proceeding apace. Likely applications of this new understanding of the neural bases of learning and memory range from education to the treatment of learning disabilities to the design of new artificial intelligence systems.
derive a model for predicting when infants will prefer novel stimuli, when they will prefer familiar stimuli, and when they will show no preference
selective review in which we show how the model can be used to provide an alternative explanation for the research results typically cited as support for the age-dependent view of preferences and review the studies that have directly tested the model / additional factors that might be incorporated into it [model] / interfacing it with several related areas of infant development (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
An apparatus was described that can simultaneously record both the "suction" and "expression" components of the human newborn's sucking response. The apparatus also provides nutrient as a function of the performance of one or the other component. The apparatus is suitable for use in either operant or classical training of any sucking animal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Long-term explicit memory is thought to involve a complex neural circuit including the medial temporal lobe, the medial diencephalon, the prefrontal cortex, and association cortices. When this memory system and associated neural circuitry develops is of great interest to developmental psychologists and developmental cognitive neuroscience researchers. In the present report, we provide evidence of a relation between behavioral and neurophysiological measures of long-term explicit memory in 20 9-mo-old infants. Specifically, the capacity for long-term recall that emerges near the end of the first year of life is mirrored in the ability, as measured by event related potentials, for long-term recognition of objects used in the recall memory test. These measures provide converging evidence of the development of long-term explicit memory at least by the end of the first year of life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study investigated discrimination and preferences for visual patterns using 30 infants from one to 14 weeks of age. It was concluded: (a) Visual patterns were discriminated by infants during the first 6 months, as evidenced by differential fixation times. (b) Changes in the strength or direction of the pattern preferences occurred around 2 months of age, independent of amount of testing. (c) Consistent visual preferences were present as early as the first 2 months, thus arguing against an extreme impericistic view of the development of visual organization and pattern discrimination. (d) The determination of natural visual preferences among different stimuli, is a powerful method of studying early visual development which can provide data of importance to theories of perception, learning, and neural functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)