This research is designed to explicate the processes and determinants of event memory through the transition from infancy to early childhood. The ability to represent and recall the past is a fundamental cognitive capacity. Traditionally, the mnemonic abilities of very young children have been characterized as qualitatively different from those of older children and adults. It was thought that due to the absence of any more than a nascent symbolic capacity, as well as encoding deficits and retrieval failures, children younger than 3 were incapable of storing memories in a manner that enabled later recollection. Contrary to these characterizations, it is now apparent that by the second year, continuities in recall processes are the rule, rather than the exception. What remains largely unexplored are the basic processes supporting early event memory, and the determinants of long-term retention and expression of memory. The proposed research has three objectives. The first is to investigate the emergence of verbal expression of memory. Tests of nonverbal expression of memory have revealed that 1 to 2 year-olds construct and maintain organized memories of specific events over long periods of time. Absent from the literature is evidence that these memories survive into early childhood and become accessible to verbal report. The second objective is to identify the determinants of memory. Previous research has established that young children's memory is affected by the organization of event representations, and by reminders. The role of verbal elaboration has yet to be examined. Given the rapid pace of language development in this age period, it is fertile ground on which to investigate effects of linguistic context on memory. The final objective is to examine the early development and function of basic mnemonic processes, by extending enquiry downwards to the first year of life. Attention to normative assembly and atypical function will provide the key to the ontogeny of long-term memory. Seventeen experiments will address these objectives by studying children through the transition from infancy to early childhood. The studies will employ electrophysiological, nonverbal behavioral, and verbal means of assessing mnemonic performance in children ranging from 8 months to 4 years.
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