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Memory Binding in Early Childhood: Evidence for a Retrieval Deficit
Author(s) -
Lloyd Marianne E.,
Doydum Ayzit O.,
Newcombe Nora S.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01353.x
Subject(s) - psychology , task (project management) , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , encoding (memory) , memory development , object (grammar) , memoria , short term memory , working memory , cognition , cognitive development , neuroscience , artificial intelligence , management , computer science , economics
Previous research has suggested that performance for items requiring memory‐binding processes improves between ages 4 and 6 (J. Sluzenski, N. Newcombe, & S. L. Kovacs, 2006). The present study suggests that much of this improvement is due to retrieval, as opposed to encoding, deficits for 4‐year‐olds. Four‐ and 6‐year‐old children ( N = 48 per age) were given objects, backgrounds, and object + background combinations to remember. Younger children performed equivalently to 6‐year‐olds during a working memory task for all types of memory questions but were impaired during a long‐term memory task for the object + background combinations. Furthermore, this deficit was completely due to differences in false alarm rates, suggesting that separate analyses of hits and false alarms may be preferable to corrected recognition scores when studying memory development.