📗 Chapter 7: Memory Development
(From Children’s Thinking, 7th Edition)
🧠 OVERVIEW
This chapter explores how memory develops from infancy through childhood. It covers the
types of memory, how we study memory in infants, and how strategies, knowledge, and
experience shape what and how children remember.
🧩 REPRESENTATION OF KNOWLEDGE
● Memory = the ability to encode, store, and retrieve information.
● Two major types:
○ Explicit memory (conscious recall, like facts)
○ Implicit memory (unconscious, like skills)
● Representational format affects memory — younger children may encode less
efficiently or forget more quickly.
👶 MEMORY DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY
🌟 Preference for Novelty
● Infants tend to look longer at new things — indicates memory for old ones.
● Habituation used as a tool to assess memory.
👣 Kicking Studies (Rovee-Collier)
, ● Infants kick to move a mobile tied to their foot.
● After a delay, infants remember the contingency — they kick more, showing retention.
● Shows operant conditioning and long-term memory.
🧸 Deferred Imitation
● Infants observe an action and imitate it later — proves memory for events.
● Emerges as early as 6–9 months.
🧠 Neurological Basis of Infant Memory
● Memory relies on the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
● These structures are immature in infants, which explains limitations in:
○ Encoding complex events
○ Retaining information over long periods
🚼 INFANTILE AMNESIA
● Most adults cannot remember events from before age 3–4.
● Causes:
○ Neurological immaturity (brain not fully developed)
○ Lack of language (can’t encode experiences verbally)
○ Self-concept not developed (can’t anchor memories)
(From Children’s Thinking, 7th Edition)
🧠 OVERVIEW
This chapter explores how memory develops from infancy through childhood. It covers the
types of memory, how we study memory in infants, and how strategies, knowledge, and
experience shape what and how children remember.
🧩 REPRESENTATION OF KNOWLEDGE
● Memory = the ability to encode, store, and retrieve information.
● Two major types:
○ Explicit memory (conscious recall, like facts)
○ Implicit memory (unconscious, like skills)
● Representational format affects memory — younger children may encode less
efficiently or forget more quickly.
👶 MEMORY DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY
🌟 Preference for Novelty
● Infants tend to look longer at new things — indicates memory for old ones.
● Habituation used as a tool to assess memory.
👣 Kicking Studies (Rovee-Collier)
, ● Infants kick to move a mobile tied to their foot.
● After a delay, infants remember the contingency — they kick more, showing retention.
● Shows operant conditioning and long-term memory.
🧸 Deferred Imitation
● Infants observe an action and imitate it later — proves memory for events.
● Emerges as early as 6–9 months.
🧠 Neurological Basis of Infant Memory
● Memory relies on the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
● These structures are immature in infants, which explains limitations in:
○ Encoding complex events
○ Retaining information over long periods
🚼 INFANTILE AMNESIA
● Most adults cannot remember events from before age 3–4.
● Causes:
○ Neurological immaturity (brain not fully developed)
○ Lack of language (can’t encode experiences verbally)
○ Self-concept not developed (can’t anchor memories)
