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• Only half of the sample had received training in child interviewing. • Child Protective Services rarely used research-based child interview methods. • Props were commonly used when interviewing children. • Many participants held beliefs in favor of the possibility of repressing and recovering memories. • We encourage the Swedish government to implement national guidelines for child interviewing in the Child Protective Services. The Child Protective Services (CPS) can be prominent actors in child abuse investigations as they often conduct the first safety assessment upon receiving a report of concern for a child. As part of this assessment, CPS may conduct an interview with the child. However, to date, little is known about how these interviews are conducted. The present study aimed to shed light on Swedish social workers' experience with interviewing children and knowledge about children's memory and witness abilities. A total of 204 social workers participated in an online survey and answered questions concerning memory functioning and interviewing children about suspected abuse. Responses were analyzed using qualitative (content analyses) and quantitative (descriptive) approaches. The main findings concern a lack of standardized interviewing guidelines, with CPS workers instead using various interviewing techniques with limited empirical support. When asked to elaborate on the challenges they perceived interviewing children, many mentioned the difficulty of asking proper questions. A few expressed feeling unequipped for the task of interviewing children. Further, participants' knowledge regarding children's memory varied. Many expressed awareness that memories can be vulnerable to suggestion and that emotions cannot verify a memory's authenticity. However, participants were more insecure regarding the possibility of repressing and, subsequently, recovering memories. Improvement is required; CPS needs further education and support when conducting interviews with children regarding suspected abuse. Implementing a research-based method can facilitate these interviews and improve children's right to be heard and legal certainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Age does not explain prospective memory performance above and beyond executive resources. • Updating represents a general resource deployed by different PM tasks. • Inhibition is particularly required to perform focal and nonfocal event-based tasks. • Shifting is specifically deployed by nonfocal event-based time-based PM tasks. • Time-monitoring is essential to succeed at time-based prospective memory tasks. A key developmental task of childhood is to gain autonomy and independence from parents and caregivers. Critical to this individualization process is the development of prospective memory (PM), the capacity to remember to carry out future intentions. In recent studies, children's PM performance has been associated with executive functions (EF). A closer inspection of the literature, however, suggests a differential impact of the three EF (updating , inhibition , and shifting) across different PM task types. The current study examined EF and PM capacities of 212 6- to 11-year-old children, examining for the first time both focal and nonfocal event-based PM tasks as well as a time-based PM task in a single sample. Results show that age-differences did not persist above and beyond age differences in children's executive resources. Specifically, updating predicted children's performance on all PM tasks, inhibition predicted performance on both event-based PM tasks, whereas shifting was specifically deployed by the nonfocal event-based task. Supplementary analyses of the time-based PM task illustrate how children monitor the progression of time and how preparatory processes support PM task performance. In sum, the current study presents the first comprehensive look at the specific role of age and three core EF in school-aged children's PM performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are important public health concerns, with links to higher prevalence rates of both health-risk behaviors and physical health difficulties in adulthood. Research has demonstrated an association between early adversity and long-term health-risk behavior development. The current study assessed the role of emotion dysregulation and facets of impulsivity as potential mediators in the relation between ACEs and general health-risk behaviors, including alcohol-related consequences and risky sexual behavior. College students (N = 668) completed online questionnaires that assessed history of ACEs, emotion regulation difficulties, impulsivity under extreme affect, and current engagement in health-risk behaviors. Emotion dysregulation and impulsivity under extreme positive emotion, but not negative emotion, demonstrated a significant serial mediation between ACEs and alcohol-related consequences. Results also suggest that emotion dysregulation mediates the relation between early adversity and all three outcomes (i.e., overall engagement in maladaptive behavior, alcohol-related consequences, and risky sexual behavior). Impulsivity under positive or negative affect did not demonstrate a mediation effect on the three outcomes. Results of this study highlight the importance of assessing for emotion regulation skills when working with young adults with histories of adversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dietary assessment has come under much criticism of late to the extent that it has been questioned whether self-reported methods of dietary assessment are worth doing at all. Widespread under-reporting of energy intake, limitations due to memory, changes to intake due to the burden of recording and social desirability bias all impact significantly on the accuracy of the dietary information collected. Under-reporting of energy intakes has long been recognized as a problem in dietary research with doubly labeled water measures of energy expenditure uncovering significant under-reporting of energy intakes across different populations and different dietary assessment methods. In this review we focus on dietary assessment with children with particular attention on the 24-hour dietary recall method. We look at the level of under-reporting of energy intakes and how this tends to change with age, gender and body mass index. We discuss potential alternatives to self-reported (or proxy-reported) dietary assessment methods with children, such as biomarkers, and how these do not enable the collection of information important to public health nutrition such as the cooking method, the mixture of foods eaten together or the context in which the food is consumed. We conclude that despite all of the challenges and flaws, the data collected using self-reported dietary assessment methods are extremely valuable. Research into dietary assessment methodology has resulted in significant increases in our understanding of the limitations of self-reported methods and progressive improvements in the accuracy of the data collected. Hence, future investment in dietary surveillance and in improving self-reported methods of intake can make vital contributions to our understanding of dietary intakes and are thus warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the neuron toxicities of low-dose exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) in children, mice were used as an animal model. We examined brain cell damage and the effects of learning and memory ability after BPA exposure in male mice (4 weeks of age) that were divided into four groups and chronically received different BPA treatments for 8 weeks. The comet assay and hippocampal neuron counting were used to detect the brain cell damage. The Y-maze test was applied to test alterations in learning and memory ability. Long term potentiation induction by BPA exposure was performed to study the potential mechanism of performance. The percentages of tail DNA, tail length and tail moment in brain cells increased with increasing BPA exposure concentrations. Significant differences in DNA damage were observed among the groups, including between the low-dose and control groups. In the Y-maze test, the other three groups qualified for the learned standard one day earlier than the high-exposed group. Furthermore, the ratio of qualified mice in the high-exposed group was always the lowest among the groups, indicating that high BPA treatment significantly altered the spatial memory performance of mice. Different BPA treatments exerted different effects on the neuron numbers of different regions in the hippocampus. In the CA1 region, the high-exposed group had a significant decrease in neuron numbers. A non-monotonic relationship was observed between the exposure concentrations and neuron quantity in the CA3 region. The hippocampal slices in the control and medium-exposed groups generated long-term potentiation after induction by theta burst stimulation, but the low-exposed group did not. A significant difference was observed between the control and low-exposed groups. In conclusion, chronic exposure to a low level of BPA had adverse effects on brain cells and altered the learning and memory ability of adolescent mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The study evaluated whether there exists a difference/relation in the way four different memory skills (memory score, sequencing score, memory span, & sequencing span) are processed through the auditory modality, visual modality and combined modalities. Methods Four memory skills were evaluated on 30 typically developing children aged 7 years and 8 years across three modality conditions (auditory, visual, & auditory-visual). Analogous auditory and visual stimuli were presented to evaluate the three modality conditions across the two age groups. Results The children obtained significantly higher memory scores through the auditory modality compared to the visual modality. Likewise, their memory scores were significantly higher through the auditory-visual modality condition than through the visual modality. However, no effect of modality was observed on the sequencing scores as well as for the memory and the sequencing span. A good agreement was seen between the different modality conditions that were studied (auditory, visual, & auditory-visual) for the different memory skills measures (memory scores, sequencing scores, memory span, & sequencing span). A relatively lower agreement was noted only between the auditory and visual modalities as well as between the visual and auditory-visual modality conditions for the memory scores, measured using Bland-Altman plots. Conclusions The study highlights the efficacy of using analogous stimuli to assess the auditory, visual as well as combined modalities. The study supports the view that the performance of children on different memory skills was better through the auditory modality compared to the visual modality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The benefits of the use of folic acid supplements (FASs) during the periconception period to prevent neural tube defects and to ensure normal brain development in offspring are well known. There is concern, however, about the long-term effects of the maternal use of high dosages of FASs that exceed the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) (≥1000 µg/d) on child neurocognitive outcomes. Objective: The objective of the study was to examine the association between the use of high dosages of FASs during pregnancy and child neuropsychological development at ages 4-5 y. Design: The multicenter prospective mother-child cohort study, the Infancia y Medio Ambiente (INMA) Project, was conducted in 4 regions of Spain: Asturias, Sabadell, Gipuzkoa, and Valencia. Pregnant women were recruited between 2003 and 2008. Data on 1682 mother-child pairs were included in the final analyses. The pregnant women completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire that was validated to estimate typical dietary folate intake and the use of FASs at 10-13 and 28-32 wk of gestation. Neuropsychological development scores at 4-5 y of age were estimated with the use of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities. Multiple linear regression and meta-analysis were used to obtain combined-effect estimates. Results: During the periconception period, one-third of the women (n = 502) took FAS dosages ≥1000 μg/d. The use of FAS dosages ≥1000 µg/d in this period was negatively associated with several neuropsychological outcomes scores in children: global verbal (β = -2.49; 95% CI: -4.71, -0.27), verbal memory (β = -3.59; 95% CI: -6.95, -0.23), cognitive function of posterior cortex (β = -2.31; 95% CI: -4.45, -0.18), and cognitive function of left posterior cortex (β = -3.26; 95% CI: -5.51, -1.01). Conclusions: The use of FAS dosages exceeding the UL (≥1000 µg/d) during the periconception period was associated with lower levels of cognitive development in children aged 4-5 y. The use of FAS dosages ≥1000 µg/d during pregnancy should be monitored and prevented as much as possible, unless medically prescribed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motor skill acquisition occurs while practicing (on-line) and when asleep or awake (off-line). However, developmental questions still remain about whether children of various ages benefit similarly or differentially from night- and day-time sleeping. The likely circadian effects (time-of-day) and the possible between-test-interference (order effects) associated with children's off-line motor learning are currently unknown. Therefore, this study examines the contributions of over-night sleeping and mid-day napping to procedural skill learning. One hundred and eight children were instructed to practice a finger sequence task using computer keyboards. After an equivalent 11-h interval in one of the three states (sleep, nap, wakefulness), children performed the same sequence in retention tests and a novel sequence in transfer tests. Changes in the movement time and sequence accuracy were evaluated between ages (6-7, 8-9, 10-11years) during practice, and from skill training to retrievals across three states. Results suggest that night-time sleeping and day-time napping improved the tapping speed, especially for the 6-year-olds. The circadian factor did not affect off-line motor learning in children. The interference between the two counter-balanced retrieval tests was not found for the off-line motor learning. This research offers possible evidence about the age-related motor learning characteristics in children and a potential means for enhancing developmental motor skills. The dynamics between age, experience, memory formation, and the theoretical implications of motor skill acquisition are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sets out an agenda for research that (re)connects research on children’s geographies and childhood studies with studies of spatial literacy. Research on children’s environmental cognition and, latterly, spatial literacy, has been artificially and problematically separated from the majority of research in childhood studies. Our fundamental aim in this article is to argue for – and to evidence – greater attention to how spatial literacy and children’s everyday lives are embedded in one another. To support our broader call for a synthetic research agenda, we draw on some more focussed, qualitative empirical material taken from a large-scale project about children’s mobilities and everyday lives in newly-built urban communities. Our analysis focuses upon children’s interpretations of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) tracks of their mobilities, set against a background of Google Earth imagery. In doing so, we showcase one suite of ways in which research on environmental cognition and children’s geographies might proceed together . We demonstrate that children not only displayed analytical skills (for instance, in relation to scaling effects and pattern recognition) but that many also exercised higher-level, critical analysis, especially in relation to errors on Google Earth outputs. Simultaneously, we interrogate the recursive articulation of a range of qualitative indicators of spatial literacy, with children’s everyday mobilities, routines, emotions and memories. The paper analyses how new conceptual languages and technologies being propounded by spatial literacy scholars could afford a more enriched understanding of key contemporary concerns for children’s geographers, and, recursively, what spatial literacy scholars might gain from engaging with (especially qualitative) research prompted by those concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning new words is a difficult task. Children are able to resolve the ambiguity of the task and map words to referents by tracking co-occurrence probabilities across multiple moments in time, a behavior termed cross-situational word learning (CSWL). Although we observe developments in CSWL abilities across childhood, the cognitive processes that drive individual and developmental change have yet to be identified. This research tested a developmental systems account by examining whether multiple cognitive systems co-contribute to children’s CSWL. The results of two experiments revealed that multiple cognitive domains, such as memory and language abilities, are likely to drive the development of CSWL above and beyond children’s age. The results also revealed that memory abilities are likely to be particularly important above and beyond other cognitive abilities. These findings have implications for theories and computational models of CSWL, which typically do not account for individual children’s cognitive capacities or changes in cognitive capacities across time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recalling one memory often leads to the recollection of other memories that share overlapping features. This phenomenon, spreading activation, was originally documented in studies conducted with verbal adults, and more recently, it has been demonstrated with preverbal infants. Here, we examine the effect of spreading activation on long-term retention by 2-year-olds. Participants were tested in the Visual Recognition Memory (VRM) paradigm and the deferred imitation paradigm. Typically, infants of this age exhibit retention in the VRM paradigm for 24h, while they exhibit retention in the deferred imitation paradigm for at least 8 weeks. In the present experiment, we paired these tasks together during original encoding and tested infants after an 8-week delay. Two-year-olds exhibited retention in both tasks. That is, when these two tasks initially occurred together - one task that is extremely memorable and one that is not - retrieving the memory of the more memorable task cued retrieval of the less memorable task, extending its longevity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The memory effect of dexmedetomidine has not been prospectively evaluated in children. We evaluated the feasibility of measuring memory and sedation responses in children during dexmedetomidine sedation for non-painful radiological imaging studies. Secondarily, we quantified changes in memory in relation to the onset of sedation.Methods: A 10 min bolus of dexmedetomidine (2 mcg kg-1) was given to children as they named simple line drawings every five s. The absence of sedation was identified as any verbal response, regardless of correctness. After recovery, recognition memory was tested with correct Yes/No recognitions (50% novel pictures) and was matched to sedation responses during the bolus period (subsequent memory paradigm).Results: Of 64 accruals, 30 children (mean [SD]6.1 (1.2) yr, eight male) received dexmedetomidine and completed all study tasks. Individual responses were able to be modelled successfully in the 30 children completing all the study tasks, demonstrating feasibility of this approach. Children had 50% probability of verbal response at five min 40 s after infusion start, whereas 50% probability of subsequent recognition memory occurred sooner at four min five s.Conclusions: Quantifying memory and sedation effects during dexmedetomidine infusion in verbal children was possible and demonstrated that memory function was present until shortly before verbal unresponsiveness occurred. This is the first study to investigate the effect of dexmedetomidine on memory in children.Clinical Trial Registration: NCT 02354378. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The ω-6 (n-6) to ω-3 (n-3) fatty acid (FA) ratio (n-6:n-3 ratio) was previously shown to be a predictor of executive function performance in children aged 7-9 y. Objective: We aimed to replicate and extend previous findings by exploring the role of the n-6:n-3 ratio in executive function performance. We hypothesized that there would be an interaction between n-3 and the n-6:n-3 ratio, with children with low n-3 performing best with a low ratio, and those with high n-3 performing best with a high ratio. Design: Children were recruited on the basis of their consumption of n-6 and n-3 FAs. The executive function performance of 78 children aged 7-12 y was tested with the use of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery and a planning task. Participants provided blood for plasma FA quantification, and the caregiver completed demographic and activity questionnaires. We investigated the role of the n-6:n-3 ratio in the entire sample and separately in children aged 7-9 y (n = 41) and 10-12 y (n = 37). Results: Dietary and plasma n-6:n-3 ratio and n-3 predicted performance on working memory and planning tasks in children 7-12 y old. The interaction between dietary n-6:n-3 ratio and n-3 predicted the number of moves required to solve the most difficult planning problems in children aged 7-9 y and those aged 10-12 y, similar to results from the previous study. There was also an interaction between the plasma n-6:n-3 ratio and n-3 predicting time spent thinking through the difficult 5-move planning problems. The n-6:n-3 ratio and n-3 predicted executive function performance differently in children aged 7-9 y and in those aged 10-12 y, indicating different optimal FA balances across development. Conclusions: The n-6:n-3 ratio is an important consideration in the role of FAs in cognitive function, and the optimal balance of n-6 and n-3 FAs depends on the cognitive function and developmental period studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study we examined performance of bilingual Spanish-English-speaking and monolingual English-speaking school-age children on a range of processing-based measures within the framework of Baddeley’s working memory model. The processing-based measures included measures of short-term memory, measures of working memory, and a novel word-learning task. Results revealed that monolinguals outperformed bilinguals on the short-term memory tasks but not the working memory and novel word-learning tasks. Further, children’s vocabulary skills and socioeconomic status (SES) were more predictive of processing-based task performance in the bilingual group than the monolingual group. Together, these findings indicate that processing-based tasks that engage verbal working memory rather than short-term memory may be better-suited for diagnostic purposes with bilingual children. However, even verbal working memory measures are sensitive to bilingual children’s language-specific knowledge and demographic characteristics, and therefore may have limited clinical utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although maltreatment is a known risk factor for multiple adverse outcomes across the lifespan, its effects on cognitive development, especially memory, are poorly understood. Using data from a large, nationally representative sample of young adults (Add Health), we examined the effects of physical and sexual abuse on working and short-term memory in adulthood. We examined the association between exposure to maltreatment as well as its timing of first onset after adjusting for covariates. Of our sample, 16.50% of respondents were exposed to physical abuse and 4.36% to sexual abuse by age 17. An analysis comparing unexposed respondents to those exposed to physical or sexual abuse did not yield any significant differences in adult memory performance. However, two developmental time periods emerged as important for shaping memory following exposure to sexual abuse, but in opposite ways. Relative to non-exposed respondents, those exposed to sexual abuse during early childhood (ages 3–5), had better number recall and those first exposed during adolescence (ages 14–17) had worse number recall. However, other variables, including socioeconomic status, played a larger role (than maltreatment) on working and short-term memory. We conclude that a simple examination of “exposed” versus “unexposed” respondents may obscure potentially important within-group differences that are revealed by examining the effects of age at onset to maltreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are conditions characterized by physical anomalies, neurodevelopmental abnormalities, and neurocognitive deficits, including intellectual, executive, and memory deficits. There are no specific biological treatments for FASDs, but rodent models have shown that prenatal or postnatal choline supplementation reduces cognitive and behavioral deficits. Potential mechanisms include phospholipid production for axonal growth and myelination, acetylcholine enhancement, and epigenetic effects. Objective: Our primary goal was to determine whether postnatal choline supplementation has the potential to improve neurocognitive functioning, particularly hippocampal-dependent memory, in children with FASDs. Design: The study was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot trial in children (aged 2.5-5 y at enrollment) with FASDs (n = 60) who received 500 mg choline or a placebo daily for 9 mo. Outcome measures were Mullen Scales of Early Learning (primary) and the elicited imitation (EI) memory paradigm (secondary). Results: The administration proved feasible, and choline was well tolerated. Participants received a dose on 88% of enrolled days. The only adverse event linked to choline was a fishy body odor. Choline supplementation improved the secondary outcome (EI) only after immediate recall performance was controlled for, and the outcome was moderated by age. The treatment effect on EI items recalled was significant in the younger participants (2.5- to ≤ 4.0-y-olds); the young choline group showed an increase of 12-14 percentage points greater than that of the young placebo group on delayed recall measures during treatment. However, there was a marginal baseline difference in delayed item recall between the young choline and placebo groups as well as a potential ceiling effect for item recall, both of which likely contributed to the observed treatment effect. We also observed a trend toward a negative effect of choline supplementation on the immediate EI recall of ordered pairs; the young placebo group showed an increase of 8-17 percentage points greater than that of the choline group during treatment. There was an inverse relation between choline dose (in mg/kg) and memory improvement (P = 0.041); the data suggest that weight-adjusted doses may be a better alternative to a fixed dose in future studies. Limitations included trend-level baseline differences in performance, the post-hoc determination of age moderation, and potential ceiling effects for the memory measure. Conclusions: This pilot study suggests that an additional evaluation of choline supplementation as an intervention for memory functioning in children with FASDs is warranted. The observed interaction between age and choline's effect on EI suggests that potential sensitive periods should be considered in future work. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01149538. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Breastfeeding has been shown to enhance global measures of intelligence in children. However, few studies have examined associations between breastfeeding and specific cognitive task performance in the first 2 y of life, particularly in an Asian population. Objective: We assessed associations between early infant feeding and detailed measures of cognitive development in the first 2 y of life in healthy Asian children born at term. Design: In a prospective cohort study, neurocognitive testing was performed in 408 healthy children (aged 6, 18, and 24 mo) from uncomplicated pregnancies (i.e., birth weight >2500 and <4000 g, gestational age ≥37 wk, and 5-min Apgar score ≥9). Tests included memory (deferred imitation, relational binding, habituation) and attention tasks (visual expectation, auditory oddball) as well as the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (BSID-III). Children were stratified into 3 groups (low, intermediate, and high) on the basis of breastfeeding duration and exclusivity. Results: After potential confounding variables were controlled for, significant associations and dose-response relations were observed for 4 of the 15 tests. Higher breastfeeding exposure was associated with better memory at 6 mo, demonstrated by greater preferential looking toward correctly matched items during early portions of a relational memory task (i.e., relational binding task: P-trend = 0.015 and 0.050 for the first two 1000-ms time bins, respectively). No effects of breastfeeding were observed at 18 mo. At 24 mo, breastfed children were more likely to display sequential memory during a deferred imitation memory task (P-trend = 0.048), and toddlers with more exposure to breastfeeding scored higher in receptive language [+0.93 (0.23, 1.63) and +1.08 (0.10, 2.07) for intermediate- and high-breastfeeding groups, respectively, compared with the low-breastfeeding group], as well as expressive language [+0.58 (-0.06, 1.23) and +1.22 (0.32, 2.12) for intermediate- and high-breastfeeding groups, respectively] assessed via the BSID-III. Conclusions: Our findings suggest small but significant benefits of breastfeeding for some aspects of memory and language development in the first 2 y of life, with significant improvements in only 4 of 15 indicators. Whether the implicated processes confer developmental advantages is unknown and represents an important area for future research. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01174875. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autobiographical memory involves the recall of both personal facts (semantic memory) and the re-experiencing of past personal events (episodic memory). The recall of autobiographical episodic details has been associated with a specific network, which involves the prefrontal and medial temporal lobes, in addition to posterior regions of the brain. Seizure activity has been previously shown to disrupt the consolidation of newly-learned information into long-term memory, but it is not yet known whether primary generalised seizures alone are also associated with deficits in the recall of autobiographical memories. Here we examined this recall in children who experience generalised rather than localisation-related seizures: children with Idiopathic Generalised Epilepsy (IGE). In this study, 18 children with IGE and 42 healthy controls of comparable age (6–16 years), sex and socio-economic status were administered the Children's Autobiographical Interview (CAI). Compared with controls, children with IGE recalled significantly fewer episodic details, even when retrieval prompts were provided. In contrast, no group difference was found for the recall of semantic autobiographic details. Within the IGE group, hierarchical regression analyses showed that patient age and earlier age of diagnosis were significantly related to the recall of episodic autobiographical details over different conditions of the CAI, explaining up to 37% of variance. To our knowledge, this study provides the first evidence of autobiographical episodic memory deficits in patients with primary generalised seizures. As no evidence of localisation-related epilepsy is apparent in patients with IGE, our findings suggest that generalised seizures alone, especially when developed at an early age, could compromise memories for personally-experienced events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The current study assessed the effects of acute exercise on three core executive functions in preadolescents and controlled for the moderating role of age. Design A true experimental design. Methods Thirty-four third-grade children and 53 fifth-grade preadolescents were randomly assigned into either an acute exercise group or a control group. The exercise protocol was designed for ecological validity and involved group jogging at moderate intensity for 30 min. Participants completed inhibition, working memory, and shifting-related executive function tasks prior to and following the treatment. Results Acute exercise facilitated performance in three executive function tasks in children in both grade groups; nevertheless, better performance was observed among the fifth graders in inhibition and working memory, but not in shifting, when compared with the third graders. Conclusion These findings suggest that acute exercise benefited three primary aspects of executive function in general, regardless of the preadolescent age group, whereas the distinct components of executive function had different developmental trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adult-provided language shapes event memory in children who are preverbal and in those who are able to discuss the past using language. The research conducted to date, however, has not yet established whether infant language comprehension abilities moderate the extent to which preverbal infants benefit from adult-provided supportive language. The present study was conducted to address this question by examining immediate imitation and 1-week delayed generalization across cues in 20-month-old infants as a function of (a) variability in adult-provided linguistic support at encoding and test, (b) infant language comprehension abilities, and (c) their interaction. The provision of supportive adult language at encoding and test was associated with delayed generalization across cues although supportive adult language at encoding did not influence performance at immediate imitation. Infant language comprehension abilities were associated with performance at immediate imitation and delayed generalization across cues. In addition, infant language comprehension abilities moderated the extent to which infants benefited from adult-provided supportive language at encoding and test. The findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating that adult language use and infant language comprehension are independently and differentially associated with immediate imitation and 1-week delayed generalization across cues but also serve to jointly structure event memory in the second year of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aging studies generally suggest that recollection is impaired whereas familiarity-based recognition remains relatively preserved in healthy older adults. The present event-related potential (ERP) study explores whether age-related impairments in recognition memory can be reduced under conditions in which recognition decisions are primarily driven by familiarity. Old and young adults performed an item recognition task with perceptually rich visual stimuli. A response deadline procedure was employed following previous studies which have shown that limiting response times attenuates recollection but leaves familiarity relatively unaffected. Age effects on memory performance were large in the non-speeded response condition in which recollection contributes to performance. When response time was limited, performance differences between groups were negligible. In the non-speeded condition the ERP correlate of recollection was not detectable in old adults. Conversely, in the speeded condition ERP correlates of familiarity were obtained in both age groups, though attenuated for old adults. For old adults in the speeded condition a temporally extended posterior negativity was obtained which was more pronounced for low performing participants. The results suggest that even though the neural generators of the familiarity signal degrade with age, familiarity is an important contributor to recognition memory in older adults and can lead to a disproportional benefit in memory in conditions designed to specifically enhance familiarity-based responding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Children use distinct encoding patterns for general and specific learning episodes. [•] Children use property content to guide the generality of their encoding. [•] Preschoolers recognize classes of properties as generalizable or non-generalizable. [•] Evidences differential encoding as a possible mechanism for correct generalization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Studies in rodents and older humans have shown that the hippocampus-a brain structure critical to relational/associative memory-has remarkable plasticity as a result of lifestyle factors (eg, exercise). However, the effect of dietary intake on hippocampal-dependent memory during childhood has remained unexamined. Objective: We investigated the cross-sectional relation of dietary components characteristic of the Western diet, including saturated fatty acids (SFAs), omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids, and refined sugar, with hippocampal-dependent relational memory in prepubescent children. Design: Participants aged 7-9 y (n = 52) reported their dietary intake by using the Youth-Adolescent Food-Frequency Questionnaire and completed memory tasks designed to assess relational (hippocampal-dependent) and item (hippocampal-independent) memory. Performance on the memory tasks was assessed with both direct (accuracy) and indirect (eye movement) measures. Results: Partial correlations adjusted for body mass index showed a positive relation between relational memory accuracy and intake of omega-3 fatty acids and a negative relation of both relational and item memory accuracy with intake of SFAs. Potential confounding factors of age, sex, intelligence quotient, socioeconomic status, pubertal timing, and aerobic fitness (maximal oxygen volume) were not significantly related to any of the dietary intake measures. Eye movement measures of relational memory (preferential viewing to the target stimulus) showed a negative relation with intake of added sugar. Conclusions: SFA intake was negatively associated with both forms of memory, whereas omega-3 fatty acid intake was selectively positively associated with hippocampal-dependent relational memory. These findings are among the first to show a link between habitual dietary intake and cognitive health as pertaining to hippocampal function in childhood. The Fitness Improves Thinking Kids (FITKids) and FITKids2 trials were registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01334359 and NCT01619826, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a randomized controlled trial to study the effect of maternal omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplementation during pregnancy, with a focus on how this affects child attention and WMIC (working memory and inhibitory control). Topics include the assessment of distractibility, attention, and memory in two-month-old infants; maternal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and fetal brain development; and research on early childhood development and brain growth.

Highlights: [•] Working memory plays a role in sentence recall. [•] Semantic knowledge also contributes to both verbal and visual sentence recall. [•] Phonological memory drives word beginning, not ending, distraction in verbal recall. [•] Children draw on semantic knowledge plus working memory for sentence recall tasks. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: Pediatric neurologists and neonatologists often are asked to predict cognitive outcome after perinatal brain injury (including likely memory and learning outcomes). However, relatively few data exist on how accurate predictions can be made. Furthermore, although the consequences of brain injury on hippocampal volume and memory performance have been studied extensively in adults, little work has been done in children. Methods: We measured the volume of the hippocampus in 27 children with perinatal stroke and 19 controls, and measured their performance on standardized verbal and non-verbal memory tests. Results: We discovered the following: (1) As a group, children with perinatal stroke had smaller left and right hippocampi compared with control children. (2) Individually, children with perinatal stroke demonstrated 1 of 3 findings: no hippocampal loss, unilateral hippocampal loss, or bilateral hippocampal volume loss compared with control children. (3) Hippocampal volume inversely correlated with memory test performance in the perinatal stroke group, with smaller left and right hippocampal volumes related to poorer verbal and non-verbal memory test performance, respectively. (4) Seizures played a significant role in determining memory deficit and extent of hippocampal volume reduction in patients with perinatal stroke. Conclusions: These findings support the view that, in the developing brain, the left and right hippocampi preferentially support verbal and nonverbal memory respectively, a consistent finding in the adult literature but a subject of debate in the pediatric literature. This is the first work to report that children with focal brain injury incurred from perinatal stroke have volume reduction in the hippocampus and impairments in certain aspects of declarative memory. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Highlights: [•] Exposure to documentation or worksheets as reminders increases memory for factual information. [•] Children exposed to documentation produce more on-topic speech than those exposed to worksheets. [•] There exist potential benefits of documentation for preschool and kindergarten classroom performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Biochemical and behavioral evidence has suggested that the ratio of n-6 (omega-6) to n-3 (omega-3) could be an important predictor of executive function abilities in children. Objective: We determined the relation between the ratio of n-6 to n-3 and cognitive function in children. We hypothesized that children with lower ratios of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids would perform better on tests of planning and working memory. Design: Seventy 7- to 9-y-old children completed three 24-h diet recalls and a subset of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Assessment Battery. Parents provided information on their demographics and children's diet histories. Results: Mean n-3 and mean n-6 intakes were related to the mean time spent on each action taken in the planning problem. The ratio of n-6 to n-3 significantly predicted performance on the working memory and planning problems. There was a significant interaction between the ratio and fatty acid intake; when children had high ratios, a higher intake of n-3 fatty acids predicted a better performance on the planning task than when children had lower n-3 intakes. When children had low ratios, a lower intake of n-3 and lower intake of n-6 predicted better performance than when intakes were higher. Conclusions: The relation between cognitive abilities and the ratio of n-6 to n-3 may be mediated by an enzymatic affinity for n-3 fatty acids. The ratio of n-6 to n-3 should be considered an important factor in the study of fatty acids and cognitive development. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01823419. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) have deficits in working memory, but little is known about the everyday memory of these children in real-life situations. We investigated the everyday memory function in children with DCD, and explored the specific profile of everyday memory across different domains. Nineteen children with DCD and 19 typically developing (TD) children participated in the study. Their everyday memory performance was evaluated using the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test for Children, which showed that 52.6% of the children with DCD had everyday memory deficits. The overall everyday memory scores of the DCD group were significantly lower than those of the controls, particularly in the verbal and visual memory domains. Pearson correlation analysis indicated significant associations between verbal intelligence and memory scores. Analysis of covariance with verbal intelligence as a covariate showed no significant differences between groups in memory scores. Mediator analysis supported the notion that everyday memory deficits in children with DCD were fully mediated through verbal intelligence. We provide evidence of everyday memory deficits in most of the children with DCD, and hypothesize that language abilities are their underlying cause. The clinical implications of these findings and recommendations for additional research are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present study investigates the relationship between mother–child interaction styles with 19 months and children''s autobiographical memory with 3 years of age in two cultural contexts: New Delhi, India (n =25) and Berlin, Germany (n =33). Results demonstrate similarities as well as culture specificities. In both contexts, maternal elaborations during reminiscing were related to children''s memory contributions. Over time, maternal support for toddlers’ self-expression during free play at 19 months predicted their children''s memory elaborations at 3 years in the Berlin context. In the Delhi context, toddlers’ willingness to carry out their mothers’ requests at 19 months predicted their memory elaborations at 3 years. These results suggest different motivational bases underlying children''s autobiographical memory contributions during mother–child reminiscing related to different cultural orientations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We examined whether children would show different change-patterns in their strategy use when administered a number of series completion tasks that were presented within a dynamic testing format utilizing a graduated prompts approach. The role of working memory was also examined. An electronic console using tangible objects with sensors enabled the detailed recording of children's responses and solution times. We hypothesized that children who received training (i.e. who were involved in dynamic testing) would progress to more advanced strategy use than non-trained children, and that this would be evident for both verbal and behavioral measures of strategy use. We also sought to examine whether more advanced strategies would be employed by children with higher levels of WM-capacity. It was found that dynamically tested children shifted their verbal strategic behavior to a more advanced level. When examining the behavioral measure, it was found that some children showed the same progression but others who had performed at an advanced level in the pre-test shifted their strategy, unexpectedly, to a heuristic form. Working memory capacity did not appear to play an important role in differentiating between trained groups. Dynamic testing, using electronic console and tangibles with sensors, enabled us to identify strengths and weaknesses in children's learning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: Parents consistently report working memory deficits in children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB); however, results from objective testing measures are inconsistent. This study aims to examine and compare working memory performance in children with various degrees of severity of SDB using both parent report and objective testing. Methods: Subjects included 127 children aged 7–12years (mean age 9.6±1.6y: 71M/56F). Overnight polysomnography classified subjects into four groups: control (N =34); primary snoring (PS: N =55), mild obstructive sleep apnoea (mild OSA: N =22) and moderate to severe OSA (MS OSA: N =16). The Behaviour Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) was used as the parent reported measure of working memory. A computerised task involving immediate recognition of playing cards (CogHealth) was used as the objective measure. Results: Results of the BRIEF revealed working memory deficits at all severities of SDB compared to controls. Results of CogHealth revealed no difference between SDB groups and controls; however, mild OSA performed significantly worse than PS. Comparison of the two measures revealed that parents of controls reported less deficits, and parents of PS reported more deficits, than were found on the objective measure of working memory. Conclusions: This study showed that parents of children with less severe SDB have a tendency to overestimate the level of working memory deficit in their children, possibly as a reflection of behaviour. This suggests that observation of deficits in working memory may be largely dependent on the assessment method and children with SDB may not be as impaired as previously thought. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the majority of people, functional differences are observed between the two cerebral hemispheres: language production is typically subserved by the left hemisphere and visuospatial skills by the right hemisphere. The development of this division of labour is not well understood and lateralisation of visuospatial function has received little attention in children. In this study we devised a child-friendly version of a paradigm to assess lateralisation of visuospatial memory using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound (fTCD). In a group of 24 adults we found this child-friendly version gave similar results to the original version of the task. In addition, fourteen children aged 6–8 years successfully completed the child-friendly fTCD task, showing a negative lateralisation index, indicating right hemispheric specialisation at the group level. Additionally, we assessed effects of task accuracy and reaction time on the lateralisation index. No effects were found, at the group level or at the level of single trials, in either the adult or the child group. We conclude that this new task reliably assesses lateralisation of visuospatial memory function in children as young as 6 years of age, using fTCD. As such, it holds promise for investigating development of lateralisation of visuospatial function in typically and atypically developing children. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: This study compared two methods for questioning children about suspected abuse: standard interviewing and body-diagram-focused (BDF) interviewing, a style of interviewing in which interviewers draw on a flip board and introduce the topic of touching with a body diagram. Methods: Children (N =261) 4–9 years of age individually participated in science demonstrations during which half the children were touched two times. Months later, parents read stories to their children that described accurate and inaccurate information about the demonstrations. The stories for untouched children also contained inaccurate descriptions of touching. The children completed standard or BDF interviews, followed by source-monitoring questions. Results: Interview format did not significantly influence (a) children's performance during early interview phases, (b) the amount of contextual information children provided about the science experience, or (c) memory source monitoring. The BDF protocol had beneficial and detrimental effects on touch reports: More children in the BDF condition reported experienced touching, but at the expense of an increased number of suggested and spontaneous false reports. Conclusions: The two props that are characteristic of BDF interviewing have different effects on testimonial accuracy. Recording answers on a flip board during presubstantive phases does not influence the quality of information that children provide. Body diagrams, however, suggest answers to children and elicit a concerning number of false reports. Practice implications: Until research identifies procedures and/or case characteristics associated with accurate reports of touching during diagram-assisted questioning, interviewers should initiate discussions about touching with open-ended questions delivered without a body diagram. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This experiment investigated incidental learning and memory in children (age 7–10years) for three different foods (fruit juice, fruit purée and biscuit), varied in sweetness. Children (N =286) were exposed to three target foods and 24h later their incidental learning was tested for one of the foods by asking them to recognize the target among distractors varying in sweetness. Children were also asked to rate their liking for the products. Overall, the children showed incidental learning for the food eaten the previous day, but recognition was not equal for all stimuli: a memory effect was found for fruit purée but not for biscuit and fruit juice. Memory was based on the correct rejection of the distractors rather than on target recognition. Hedonic scores were high, but lowest for fruit purée. Memory was not related to liking, but it is likely that other factors like novelty and familiarity may have been influential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Automated Working Memory Assessment battery was designed to assess verbal and visuospatial passive and active working memory processing in children and adolescents. The aim of this paper is to present the adaptation and validation of the AWMA battery to Argentinean Spanish-speaking children aged 6 to 11years. Verbal subtests were adapted and pilot tested on a small sample (n =26). A validation study was conducted including 6-, 8- and 11-year-old children (n =210). All subtests presented an increase in difficulty as the number of to-be-remembered items raised, and showed high Cronbach''s α values. Regarding validity, all subtests had medium to high and significant correlations among them, and with two external measures of working memory (Picture Span and Word Order) and an executive function task (Tower of London); correlations with Block Design were low and non-significant. We conclude that the adapted AWMA can be considered a valid and reliable battery of working memory in Argentinean Spanish-speaking children. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Previous research has suggested that infants may have more robust memory for past experiences relative to memory for locations that have been encountered previously. This assertion, however, primarily results from the comparison of data that were collected using different experimental procedures. In the present study, we examined memory for events and memory for locations in the context of elicited imitation. Specifically, 13-, 16-, and 20-month-old infants were tested for long-term memory for events and locations after between-subjects delays of 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. The results indicated that the event memory was retained over lengthier delays relative to the location memory, despite superior encoding of location information. The possible adaptive significance of long-term memory for events ontogenetically preceding long-term memory for locations is discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The relationship between flavor naming and recognition memory was evaluated in groups of children and young adults who either self-generated flavor names or chose flavor names from a list of four alternatives. The adults were more successful at naming and remembering the flavors, with the age differences in naming performance tending to be larger than differences in memory performance. Differences in recognition memory among the age groups were modest, ranging from 3% to 12%. Providing flavor labels improved naming accuracy, but not naming consistency or memory for younger children (4–7years old). Labels improved naming accuracy and consistency for the older children (8–11years old), and showed a trend toward improving memory. Labels improved naming accuracy, consistency and recognition memory in adults. Consistent naming was a powerful predictor of recognition memory for each age group and test condition. Consistently named flavors were remembered correctly on 88% of the trials while inconsistently named flavors showed no evidence of memory. It was concluded that flavor recognition memory and naming consistency were both rooted in successfully matching flavor percepts to a multi-dimensional flavor representation that includes semantic information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Important dimensions of emotional experiences include the level of arousal elicited and the source of that arousal, yet memory for events differing on these constructs is often compared within and across studies. One important factor for emotional memory is attachment security, which predicts how parents and children relate to each other and to the world around them. The present study investigated differences in 8- to 12-year olds’ recall of emotional stimuli varied in relevance to attachment themes of separation and reunion. Moreover, memory was examined as predicted by children''s attachment security, parents’ attachment avoidance and anxiety, and parental elaboration during an interaction about the laboratory experience. Results revealed that recall was best for stimuli involving separation. Moreover, recall for separation stimuli was positively predicted by children''s attachment security and parental avoidance, and negatively predicted by parental anxiety and elaborative interaction style. These findings highlight the importance of considering the effect of multiple dimensions of emotional events on children''s memory and how contextual factors may differentially predict those memories. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: We previously developed a novel method of identifying children aged 9–12years who may be at elevated risk of developing schizophrenia and the spectrum disorders because they present a triad of putative antecedents of schizophrenia (ASz). The present study aimed to determine whether ASz children also present neurocognitive deficits that are commonly observed in patients with schizophrenia. Methods: Twenty-eight ASz children and 28 typically-developing (TD) children without the antecedents of schizophrenia completed a battery of neurocognitive tests assessing seven domains of function: General intelligence, scholastic achievement, verbal memory, visual memory, working memory, executive function (EF)–verbal fluency, and EF–inhibition. Results: Relative to TD children, the ASz group showed poorer performance on all neurocognitive tests (mean Cohen''s d effect size=0.52). In linear regression analyses, group status (ASz vs. TD) significantly predicted scores on the general intelligence, verbal memory, working memory, and EF–inhibition domains (p <0.05). The severity of problems on each of the individual antecedents comprising the antecedent triad did not relate strongly to performance on the neurocognitive domains. Conclusions: Children aged 9–12years who present multiple antecedents of schizophrenia display poorer neurocognition than healthy peers on several domains showing pronounced deficits in schizophrenia, first-episode psychosis, and youth with prodromal symptoms. Longitudinal follow-up is necessary to determine the extent to which poorer neurocognitive performance is specific to those who develop schizophrenia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The latency and amplitude of the P3b component of event-related potentials (ERPs) have been related to behavioural performance on several attention and memory tasks in adult populations. However, the extent to which these results apply to children is unknown. This study examined the neurobehavioral correlates of the P3b component in a longitudinal sample of school-age children from Arctic Québec. Children (N =110; mean age=11.3years) were assessed on an ERP auditory oddball paradigm and a neurobehavioral evaluation targeting several aspects of cognition, including the Stewart Extended Continuous Performance Test (E-CPT), California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), Stroop Color-Word Interference Test, and five subtests from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth edition (WISC-IV). P3b latency was positively related to reaction time measures and negatively associated with performance on the WISC-IV Digit Span Forward subtest. Amplitude of the P3b was associated with shorter completion time on the Stroop test and better delayed recognition memory performance among children who did not use semantic strategies on the CVLT. Profile analyses revealed no difference in scalp distribution of the P3b according to performance on these tests. The results are consistent with previous studies with older participants and suggest that, despite age-related differences in waveform and scalp distribution, the P3b component relates to similar neurocognitive processes in children and adults. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Traditionally early brain insult (EBI) has been considered to have better outcome than later injury, consistent with the notion that the young brain is flexible and able to reorganize. Recent research findings question this view, suggesting that EBI might lead to poorer outcome than brain insult at any other age. Exploring this early vulnerability perspective, we investigated whether skills developing later in childhood, for example, executive functions (EF), would be at greater risk of disruption from EBI. The aim of this study was to investigate EF in children sustaining EBI at different developmental stages. We expected that brain insult during gestation and infancy, before the emergence of EF, would lead to global EF deficits. In contrast, we predicted that brain injury in late childhood would have fewer consequences. Using a cross-sectional, retrospective, group design we compared six groups of children (Total N =164), with a history of brain insult and documented focal brain pathology, aged 10–16 years on a range of measures of EF. Groups were based on age of EBI: (1) Congenital; (2) Peri-natal; (3) Infancy; (4) Preschool; (5) Middle Childhood; and (6) Late Childhood. Children with EBI were at increased risk for impairment across all aspects of EF. Presence of seizures and/or frontal pathology were not predictive of outcome, but age at insult was. Children sustaining EBI before age 3 recorded more global and severe EF deficits, while children with later EBI performed closer to normal expectations. With the exception of attentional control, skills emerging at time of insult were found to be more vulnerable to disruption than those previously established, supporting the ‘early vulnerability’ model for EBI. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Neurophysiological studies yield contrary results whether attentional problems of patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are related to early visual processing deficits or not. Evoked gamma-band responses (GBRs), being among the first cortical responses occurring as early as 90ms after visual stimulation in human EEG, have been assigned a pivotal role in early visual processing. In particular, they are involved in memory matching processes and are enhanced when known stimuli are processed. The current study examined whether evoked GBR patterns during early memory matching processes could be indicative of an early visual processing deficit in ADHD patients. EEG was recorded from 13 young ADHD patients as well as 13 age-matched healthy participants. Both groups performed a simple forced choice reaction task employing line drawings of either known real-world items with representations in long-term memory or physically similar unknown items without such representations. Evoked GBRs of ADHD patients did not differentiate between known and unknown items. However, in healthy children, evoked GBRs were enhanced when stimuli matched a representation stored in memory. This finding indicates disadvantages at early visual processing stages in ADHD patients: In contrast to healthy participants, ADHD children lack an early memory based classification, possibly resulting in an impaired ability to rapidly reallocate attentional resources to relevant stimuli. These findings suggest that impaired early automatic stimulus classification in ADHD patients could be involved in deficits of selective and sustained attention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Some cognitive abilities of arithmetical calculation depend on retrieval of arithmetic facts from long-term memory. Arithmetic-fact retrieval has been studied in adults through Event-Related Potentials (ERP) experiments. Such information in children, however, has been scarce. It has been reported that from the age of 9 years, children employ a memory retrieval strategy for solving simple multiplication problems. The present study compared arithmetical-fact retrieval in children and adults while they were being subjected to ERP recording. The subjects were asked to make judgments about solutions to simple multiplication problems. Both groups of participants displayed the so-called arithmetic N400 effect for incorrect solutions relative to correct solutions. Adults showed a posterior N400 effect, while children showed a widely distributed N400 effect. Children displayed a larger amplitude and longer latency arithmetic N400 component than adults; this observation could be due to children exerting greater effort involving more widespread cortical activation than adults to solve the experimental problems. The Late Positive Component (LPC), which follows the arithmetic N400 and has been described previously in adult subjects, was observed in the present adult subjects, but was present in children only for correct solutions. These results may indicate that, relative to adults, children showed slower memory retrieval and a different pattern of a verification mechanism for correct and incorrect solutions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We examined whether script knowledge contributes to the development of children’s false memories. Sixty 7-year-old and 60 11-year-old children listened to false narratives describing either a high-knowledge event (i.e., fingers being caught in a mousetrap) or a low-knowledge event (i.e., receiving a rectal enema) that were similar in terms of plausibility and pleasantness. Moreover, half of the children in each condition received additional suggestive details about the false events. Across two interviews, children had to report everything they remembered about the events. Script knowledge affected children’s false memories in that both younger and older children developed more false memories for the high-knowledge event than for the low-knowledge event. Moreover, at the first interview, additional suggestive details inhibited the development of children’s images into false memories. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Epilepsy is frequently associated with attention and memory problems. In adults, lateralization of seizure focus impacts the type of memory affected (left-sided lesions primarily impact verbal memory, while right-sided lesions primarily impact visual memory), but the relationship between seizure focus and the nature of the memory impairment is less clear in children. The current study examines the correlation between parent-reported attention problems and material-specific memory (verbal or visual-spatial) in 65 children (ages 6–16) with medically intractable lateralized epilepsy. There were no significant differences in attention and memory between those with left-lateralized epilepsy (n =25) and those with right-lateralized epilepsy (n =40). However, in the left-lateralized group attention problems were significantly negatively correlated only with delayed visual memory (r =−.450, p <.05), while the right-lateralized group demonstrated the opposite pattern (attention problems significantly negatively correlated with delayed verbal memory; r =−.331, p <.05). These findings suggest that lateralization of seizure focus may in fact impact children''s memory in a material-specific manner, while problems with attention may impact memory more globally. Therefore, interventions designed to improve attention in children with epilepsy may have utility in improving certain aspects of memory, but further suggest that in children with lateralized epilepsy, material-specific memory deficits may not resolve with such interventions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The goal of the present study was to examine the precursors of verbal working memory in 52 children with cerebral palsy with varying degrees of speech impairments in the first grade of special education. Following Baddeley''s model of working memory, children''s verbal working memory was measured by means of a forced-recognition task. As precursors of verbal working memory, measures of intelligence, speech rate, speech intelligibility, auditory perception, and phonological awareness were also administered. Correlations were computed between all measures followed by Structural Equation Modeling analyses with speech rate and speech intelligibility being identified as a single factor ‘speech’. The results revealed that verbal working memory was mostly predicted by intelligence, auditory perception and speech ability. It was also found that children with cerebral palsy with additional intellectual and speech impairments were at risk for limited verbal working memory spans. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Items studied as pictures are better remembered than items studied as words even when test items are presented as words. The present study examined the development of this picture superiority effect in recognition memory. Four groups ranging in age from 7 to 20 years participated. They studied words and pictures, with test stimuli always presented as words, and time to respond to test stimuli was manipulated. The picture superiority effect showed a clear developmental trend. In the condition in which participants had ample response time, a significant picture superiority effect appeared in all but the youngest group. With short response time, a significant picture superiority effect appeared only among 11- and 20-year-old groups, while a significant reverse of the picture superiority effect was detected in the youngest group. These results were interpreted as suggesting that different memory processes (familiarity and recollection) contribute differently to the picture superiority effect at different stages of development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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Copyright of Psychologie Française is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)