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This study tests whether developments in self‐knowledge and autobiographical memory across early to late childhood are related. Self‐descriptions and autobiographical memory reports were collected from 379 three‐ to eleven‐year‐old predominantly white Scottish children, Mage = 90.3 months, SD = 31.1, 54% female. Episodic memory was measured in an enactment task involving recall and source monitoring of performed and witnessed actions. The volume and complexity of self‐knowledge and autobiographical memory reports increased with age, as did source monitoring ability and recall bias for own actions. Regression analyses and structural equation modeling confirmed a close association between these developments. These results inform our theoretical understanding of the development of the self‐memory system in childhood, which may contribute to the gradual offset of childhood amnesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Memory decision‐making in 26‐ to 32‐month‐olds was investigated using visual‐paired comparison paradigms, requiring toddlers to select familiar stimuli (Active condition) or view familiar and novel stimuli (Passive condition). In Experiment 1 (N = 108, 54.6% female, 62% White; replication N = 98), toddlers with higher accuracy in the Active condition showed reduced novelty preference in that condition, but not in the Passive condition (d = −.11). In Experiment 2 (N = 78; 52.6% female; 70.5% White), a brief 5% increase in target size boosted gaze transitions across conditions (d =.50) and accuracy in the Active condition (d =.53). Overall, evidence suggests that better attentional distribution can support decision‐making. Research was conducted between 2014 and 2020 in Northern California. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood naps support emotional memory, but benefits are only observed after overnight sleep. Whether emotional memory consolidation occurs during naps, or whether napping only prepares memories for overnight consolidation is unknown. We investigated whether naps protect emotional memories from interference, indicating consolidation. Between 2018 and 2020, 63 children in western Massachusetts preschools (30 female, 33 male; 33–67 months; 23.8% Hispanic, 87.3% White) learned faces paired with negative or neutral descriptions, followed by nap or wake. Before delayed recognition, half completed an interference task. Without interference, napping benefited recognition. With interference, children recognized fewer negative faces post‐nap (compared to wake), with overnight sleep attenuating this difference. Results suggest that naps initially destabilize emotional memories, possibly reflecting partial processing that promotes long‐term consolidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children are on a quest for knowledge. To achieve it, children must integrate separate but related episodes of learning. The theoretical model of memory integration posits that the process is supported by component cognitive abilities. In turn, memory integration predicts accumulation of a knowledge base. We tested this model in two studies (data collected in 2016–2018) with second (8‐year‐olds; n = 391; 196 female; 36% Black, 27% Hispanic/Latinx, 29% White, and 8% multiracial) and third (9‐year‐olds; n = 282; 148 female; 36% Black, 31% Hispanic/Latinx, 27% White, and 5% multiracial) graders. The results support the theoretical model and the role of verbal comprehension in learning new information, and also indicate that verbal comprehension alone is not sufficient to build knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article engages continuing discussions in childhood studies on (re)inserting the study of childhood into wider socio‐political matrices of power and practices. We present as a potent analytical strategy to do this work 'child as method', developed by one of the authors. After describing 'child as method', we draw on the Recollect/Reconnect project, in which scholars and artists who grew up during the last decades of the Cold War recalled their childhood memories. We focus on 'the child' and 'childhood' as a position of geopolitical address, formulated by narrators to the reader as revealing emergent post‐socialist subjectivities and conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Math attitudes are related to achievement, yet we do not know how the brain supports changes in math attitudes. 51 children (54.9% female, 45.1% male; 37.3% White, 33.3% Black, 11.8% Latino, 5.9% Asian, 11.8% Other) solved a multiplication task inside the scanner when they were approximately 11 (time 1; T1) and 13 (time 2; T2) years old (i.e., mean age). Results revealed clusters in the left middle to superior temporal gyri at T1 associated with math attitudes at T1 and with their longitudinal improvement. However, changes in attitudes were not associated with brain changes over time. These findings suggest that relying on the storage of arithmetic facts, involved in memory retrieval, explains the development of positive math attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is associated with smaller regional and global brain volumes. In rats, gestational choline supplementation mitigates adverse developmental effects of ethanol exposure. Our recent randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled maternal choline supplementation trial showed improved somatic and functional outcomes in infants at 6.5 and 12 months postpartum. Here, we examined whether maternal choline supplementation protected the newborn brain from PAE‐related volume reductions and, if so, whether these volume changes were associated with improved infant recognition memory. Methods: Fifty‐two infants born to heavy‐drinking women who had participated in a choline supplementation trial during pregnancy underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging with a multi‐echo FLASH protocol on a 3T Siemens Allegra MRI (median age = 2.8 weeks postpartum). Subcortical regions were manually segmented. Recognition memory was assessed at 12 months on the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence (FTII). We examined the effects of choline on regional brain volumes, whether choline‐related volume increases were associated with higher FTII scores, and the degree to which the regional volume increases mediated the effects of choline on the FTII. Results: Usable MRI data were acquired in 50 infants (choline: n = 27; placebo: n = 23). Normalized volumes were larger in six of 12 regions in the choline than placebo arm (t ≥ 2.05, p ≤ 0.05) and were correlated with the degree of maternal choline adherence (β ≥ 0.28, p ≤ 0.04). Larger right putamen and corpus callosum were related to higher FTII scores (r = 0.36, p = 0.02) with a trend toward partial mediation of the choline effect on recognition memory. Conclusions: High‐dose choline supplementation during pregnancy mitigated PAE‐related regional volume reductions, with larger volumes associated with improved 12‐month recognition memory. These results provide the first evidence that choline may be neuroprotective against PAE‐related brain structural deficits in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to examine how visual skills, verbal working memory, visuospatial working memory, and other general cognitive skills (inhibitory control, attention, and decision speed) were simultaneously correlated with the early acquisition of reading among kindergarten children. A total of 99 Chinese children were tested individually on the Chinese character recognition task, the block design task, the digit span task, the visuospatial sketchpad task, the continuous performance task (CPT), the flanker task, and the choice reaction time task. The results showed that visual skills and working memory accounted for 15% of the unique variance in character reading, whereas other general cognitive skills, including decision speed, inhibitory control and attention, did not significantly explain the variance in character reading when visual skills and working memory were considered. Specifically, verbal working memory, rather than visuospatial working memory, explained the unique variance in children's learning of character reading. These findings highlighted that visual skills and verbal working memory were among the most important precursors of reading in children at the beginning stage of learning Chinese characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A discrepancy between what was predicted and what is observed has been linked to increased looking times, changes in brain electrical activity, and increased pupil dilation in infants. These processes associated with heightened attention and readiness to learn might enhance the encoding and memory consolidation of the surprising object, as suggested by both the infant and the adult literature. We therefore investigated whether the presence of surprise during the encoding context enhances subsequent encoding and recognition memory processes for the items that violated infants' expectations. Seventeen‐month‐olds viewed 20 familiar objects, half of which were labeled correctly, while the other half were mislabeled. Subsequently, infants were presented with a silent recognition memory test where the previously labeled objects appeared along with new images. Pupil dilation was measured, with more dilated pupils indicating (1) surprise during those labeling events where the item was mislabeled and (2) successful retrieval processes during the memory test. Infants responded with more pupil dilation to mislabeling compared to correct labeling. Importantly, despite the presence of a surprise response during mislabeling, infants only differentiated between the previously seen and unseen items at the memory test, offering no evidence that surprise had facilitated the encoding of the mislabeled items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined age‐related differences in the effectiveness of two generative learning strategies (GLSs). Twenty‐five children aged 9–11 and 25 university students aged 17–29 performed a facts learning task in which they had to generate either a prediction or an example before seeing the correct result. We found a significant Age × Learning Strategy interaction, with children remembering more facts after generating predictions rather than examples, whereas both strategies were similarly effective in adults. Pupillary data indicated that predictions stimulated surprise, whereas the effectiveness of example‐based learning correlated with children's analogical reasoning abilities. These findings suggest that there are different cognitive prerequisites for different GLSs, which results in varying degrees of strategy effectiveness by age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the influence of social context on children's event memory. Across four studies, we examined whether learning that could occur in the absence of a person was more robust when a person was present. Three-year-old children (N = 125) viewed sequential events that either included or excluded an acting agent. In Experiment 1, children who viewed an agent recalled more than children who did not. Experiments 2a and 2b utilized an eye tracker to demonstrate this effect was not due to differences in attention. Experiment 3 used a combined behavioral and event-related potential paradigm to show that condition effects were present in memory-related components. These converging results indicate a particular role for social knowledge in supporting memory for events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production effect-whereby reading words aloud improves memory for those words relative to reading them silently-was investigated in two experiments with 7- to 10-year-old children residing in Brisbane, Australia. Experiment 1 (n = 41) involved familiar printed words, with words read aloud or silently appearing either in mixed- or blocked-list formats in a within-subject design. Recognition for words read aloud was better than for those read silently, an effect consistent across both list formats. These results were confirmed in Experiment 2 (n = 40) using longer lists of printed novel nonwords. Final analyses indicated that the production effect was comparable for words and nonwords. Findings are discussed in relation to the distinctiveness account and the use of production as a mnemonic in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Value-based decisions often involve comparisons between benefits and costs that must be retrieved from memory. To investigate the development of value-based decisions, 9- to 10-year olds (N = 30), 11- to 12-year olds (N = 30), and young adults (N = 30) first learned to associate gain and loss magnitudes with symbols. In a subsequent decision task, participants rapidly evaluated objects that consisted of combinations of these symbols. All age groups achieved high decision performance and were sensitive to gain-loss magnitudes, suggesting that required core cognitive abilities are developed early. A cognitive-modeling analysis of performance revealed that children were less efficient in object evaluation (drift rate) and had longer nondecision times than adults. Developmental differences, which emerged particularly for objects of high positive net value, were linked to mnemonic and numerical abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little work has tested how emotion regulation (ER) processes influence children's memory for negative experiences. We investigated how two intrapersonal ER processes (affect-biased attention and changes in negative feelings) predicted children's (N = 184, 93 girls, ages 3-11) memory. Recall of a sad or scary film was tested after a delay. The way discrete emotional information was remembered varied with ER and children's age. Older children with greater affect-biased attention or less reduction of fear demonstrated privileged memory for central information from the scary film. Older children with greater affect-biased attention but greater reductions in sadness recalled more from the sad film overall. Findings suggest ER processes should be considered when examining children's memory for negative emotional information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Episodic memory relies on discriminating among similar elements of episodes. Mnemonic discrimination is relatively poor at age 4, and then improves markedly. We investigated whether motivation to encode items with fine-grain resolution would change this picture of development, using an engaging computer-administered memory task in which a bird ate items that made her healthier (gain frame), sicker (loss frame), or led to no change (control condition). Using gain-loss framing led to enhanced mnemonic discrimination in 4- and 5-year-olds, but did not affect older children or adults. Despite this differential improvement, age-related differences persisted. An additional finding was that loss-framing led to greater mnemonic discrimination than gain-framing across age groups. Motivation only partially accounts for the improvement in mnemonic discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An experiment with 72 three-year-olds investigated whether encoding events while seeing iconic gestures boosts children's memory representation of these events. The events, shown in videos of actors moving in an unusual manner, were presented with either iconic gestures depicting how the actors performed these actions, interactive gestures, or no gesture. In a recognition memory task, children in the iconic gesture condition remembered actors and actions better than children in the control conditions. Iconic gestures were categorized based on how much of the actors was represented by the hands (feet, legs, or body). Only iconic hand-as-body gestures boosted actor memory. Thus, seeing iconic gestures while encoding events facilitates children's memory of those aspects of events that are schematically highlighted by gesture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined behavioral, heart rate (HR), and event-related potential (ERP) correlates of attention and recognition memory for 4.5-, 6-, and 7.5-month-old infants (N = 45) during stimulus encoding. Attention was utilized as an independent variable using HR measures. The Nc ERP component associated with attention and the late slow wave (LSW) associated with recognition memory were analyzed. The 7.5-month-olds demonstrated a significant reduction in Nc amplitude with stimulus repetition. This reduction in Nc was not found for younger infants. Additionally, infants only demonstrated differential LSW amplitude based on stimulus type on attentive trials as defined by HR changes. These findings indicate that from 4.5 to 7.5 months, infants' attentional engagement is influenced by an increasingly broader range of stimulus characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the development of memory has a long history and constitutes one of the most active research areas in the field of cognitive development. In this article, we first describe major historical developments in the literature on children's memory, focusing on systematic research that began in the late 1960s. We then examine new developments in the field, describing four important lines of inquiry: (a) the development of implicit memory, (b) short‐ and long‐term memory development in infancy, (c) longitudinal research on memory strategies and metamemory, and (d) developmental cognitive neuroscience of memory. Finally, promising lines of future research on memory development are briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence primarily exists in adults that engaging in task‐related mental activity after new learning results in increased forgetting of learned information, compared with quietly resting in the minutes that follow learning, where less forgetting is observed. The current study investigated whether the beneficial effect of post‐encoding rest can be observed in children aged 13–14 years. Each child (N = 102) encoded two word lists. After the presentation and immediate recall of one word list, children wakefully rested for 10 min (resting condition), after presentation and immediate recall of the other word list, they solved visuo‐spatial problems for 10 min (problem‐solving condition). Seven days later, a surprise free recall test for the two word lists took place. Our results showed that children retained more words over 7 days in the resting condition than with the problem‐solving condition. Post‐hoc analyses revealed that the resting effect was a function of the number of words recollected during the immediate recall. Specifically, those children who recalled fewest words (≤ 13/30 words) in the immediate recall showed a significant resting effect. There was no resting effect in those who recalled a mid‐range (14–16/30 words) or a high number (>16/30 words) of words. These results provide new insights into the factors that influence memory in children, and suggest that a few minutes of wakeful rest benefits memory, relative to engaging in an ongoing task. Statement of contributionWhat is already known on this subject?Task‐related mental activity after encoding weakens memory retention more than wakeful resting.Beneficial effect of resting after encoding was found primarily in younger and older adults.What does this study add?We investigated children at the age of 13–14 years.8‐min post‐encoding wakeful resting supports memory retention over 7 days.Individuals differ in the impact of a brief period of wakeful resting after learning.Only children with lower immediate memory performances profited from wakeful resting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed children's preference, giving, and memory to investigate the impact of social information over time. We compared 5- and 6-year-olds' (N = 144) immediate or delayed responses to an individual who does or does not share their toy preference (similar vs. dissimilar) or an individual who treats others kindly or poorly (nice vs. mean). Immediately, children all preferred the similar or nice characters but gave more stickers to the similar character. This strong initial effect of similarity was not evident after 1 week; children's preference, giving, and memory reflected a greater long-term impact of niceness than similarity. These findings highlight the importance of using multiple features and measures to elucidate children's evolving views about others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrition plays an important role in the development of a child, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where malnutrition is often widespread. The relation between diet, hemoglobin, nutritional status, motor development, stimulation and mental development was examined in a cross-sectional sample of 1,079 children 12-18 months of age living in rural Bihar, India. Path analysis revealed associations between (a) length-for-age z-scores and motor development, standardized β (β) = .285, p < .001, and (b) motor and all mental development outcomes (language: β = .422; personal-social: β = .490; memory: β = .139; and executive function: β = .072, all p < .001). Additionally, stimulation was significantly associated with language scores and hemoglobin concentration with memory. These findings inform interventions aimed at improving child development in Northern India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies have emphasized the importance of childhood memories of threatening experiences and submissiveness in a diversity of psychological disorders. The purpose of this work was to study their specific relationship with hallucination proneness and ideas of reference in healthy subjects. The ELES scale for measuring memory of adverse childhood experiences, the DES‐II scale for measuring dissociation, the LSHS‐R scale for measuring hallucination proneness, and the REF for ideas of reference were applied to a sample of 472 subjects. A positive association was found between childhood memories of adverse experiences and hallucination proneness and ideas of reference, on one hand, and dissociation on the other. A mediation analysis showed that dissociation was a mediator between the memory of adverse childhood experiences and hallucination proneness on one hand, and ideas of reference on the other. When the role of mediator of the types of dissociative experiences was studied, it was found that absorption and depersonalization mediated between adverse experiences and hallucination proneness. However, this mediating effect was not found between adverse experiences and ideas of reference. The relationship between these last two variables was direct. The results suggest that childhood memories of adverse experiences are a relevant factor in understanding hallucination proneness and ideas of reference. Similarly, dissociation is a specific mediator between adverse childhood experiences and hallucination proneness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Examining the impact of maintenance on processing speed allows us to test whether storage and processing resources are shared. Comparing these relationships in children of different ages allows further insight into whether one or multiple resources for these operations must be assumed and whether remembering is proactive throughout childhood. We tested 185 4‐ to 6‐ and 8‐ to 10‐year‐old children using adaptive complex span tasks, in which simple judgments were interleaved between to‐be‐remembered items. The adaptiveness of our tasks ensured that all participants frequently correctly recalled the items. If storage and processing require a single resource, and if participants serially reactivate the memoranda between processing episodes, processing response times should increase with serial position of the processing judgment within lists. We observed different within‐list dynamics for each age group. Older children's processing judgments slowed gradually when more than two memory items were maintained. By contrast, younger children showed no evidence of slower processing with increasing memory load. Our results support models of working memory that assume that some common resource is responsible for verbal and spatial storage and processing. They also support the notion that remembering becomes more proactive as children mature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An individual's socioeconomic status (SES) is often viewed as a proxy for a host of environmental influences. SES disparities have been linked to variance in brain structures particularly the hippocampus, a neural substrate of learning and memory. However, it is unclear whether the association between SES and hippocampal volume is similar in children and adults. We investigated the relationship between hippocampal volume and SES in a group of children (n = 31, age 8–12 years) and a group of young adults (n = 32, age 18–25 years). SES was assessed with four indicators that loaded on a single factor, therefore a composite SES scores was used in the main analyses. Hippocampal volume was measured using manual demarcation on high resolution structural images. SES was associated with hippocampal volume in the children, but not in adults, suggesting that in childhood, but not adulthood, SES‐related environmental factors influence hippocampal volume. In addition, hippocampal volume, but not SES, was associated with scores on a memory task, suggesting that net effects of postnatal environmental factors, captured by SES, are more distal determinants of memory performance than hippocampal volume. Longitudinal investigation of the association between SES, hippocampal volume and cognitive functioning may further our understanding of the putative neural mechanisms underlying SES‐related environmental effects on cognitive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present multimethod longitudinal study aimed at investigating development and stability of implicit memory during infancy and early childhood. A total of 134 children were followed longitudinally from 3 months to 3 years of life assessing different age-appropriate measures of implicit memory. Results from structural equation modeling give further evidence that implicit memory is stable from 9 months of life on, with earlier performance predicting later performance. Second, it was found that implicit memory is present from early on, and no age-related improvements are found from 3 months on. Results are discussed with respect to the basic brain structures implicit memory builds on, as well as methodological issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:Recent studies have shown promising effects of physical activity on cognitive function, but there is a need to investigate this link in real-life settings such as schools. Hence, the objective of the present pilot study was to investigate whether the school-based physical activity programme “FIFA 11 for Health” for Europe could improve cognitive performance in preadolescent Danish children.Methods:The pilot study used an 11-week cluster-randomised intervention study design. School classes were randomly assigned to either a control group (CG) (n = 93 children, age = 11.8,s = 0.2 years), which performed the obligatory daily school-based physical activity (5 × 45 minutes per week); or an intervention group (IG) (n = 838 children, age = 11.9,s = 0.4 years), which substituted 2 × 45 minutes per week of the daily school physical activity with the “FIFA 11 for Health” for Europe programme. The programme combines small-sided football games, drills and health education. Cognitive performance was evaluated at baseline and follow-up.Results:The IG improved their cognitive performance compared to the CG for psychomotor function (56,sx– = 22 ms,p < .001), attention (39,sx– = 17 ms,p = .012) and working memory (79,sx– = 35 ms,p = .020).Conclusion:This pilot study provides evidence that the school-based physical activity programme “FIFA 11 for Health” for Europe can improve cognitive performance in preadolescent Danish schoolchildren. Future studies should attempt to disentangle the effects of “FIFA 11 for Health” for Europe on cognitive performance by investigating the characteristics of the programme’s physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the first reported study of children's use of two metacognitive strategies, recollection rejection and diagnostic monitoring, to reject misinformation. Recollection rejection involves the retrieval of details that disqualify an event, whereas diagnostic monitoring involves the failure to retrieve expected details. First (n = 56, age 7 years) and third graders (n = 52, age 9 years) witnessed a staged classroom interaction involving common and bizarre accidents, were presented with misinformation about the source of these events, and took a memory test. Both age groups used recollection rejection, but third graders were more effective. There was little evidence that diagnostic monitoring influenced responses for bizarre events, potentially because these events were not sufficiently bizarre in the context of the stereotype induction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Recent advances in technology have raised a potentially promising service to overcome difficulties associated with remote witnesses: live video-feed interviews. The efficacy of this mode of interviewing, however, lacks empirical evidence, particularly with children in an investigative context. Methods This study explored the effects of live video-feed compared to face-to-face interviewing on the memory reports of 100 children (aged 5-12). Children participated in an innocuous event and were interviewed 1-2 days later by experienced interviewers. Results Analyses indicated that live video-feed interviewing was just as effective as face-to-face interviewing in terms of the accuracy and informativeness of children's accounts. Video-feed interviews, however, required a higher number of clarification prompts compared to face-to-face interviews. These findings were not influenced by children's familiarity with technology. Conclusions An initial test of live video-feed interviewing indicates it is a safe and effective method for interviewing children about an innocuous event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This pilot study provides the first empirical test of the concept of 'Angels in the Nursery' by examining whether childhood memories of benevolent caregiving experiences protect against heightened levels of psychopathology in high-risk mothers. The study hypothesized that (a) elaborated childhood memories of feeling loved by a caregiver ('angel memories') would moderate adulthood posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in mothers with childhood maltreatment histories, and (b) spontaneous traumatic intrusions ('ghost memories') would mediate childhood maltreatment and adulthood PTSD symptoms. Participants were 54 mothers ( M = 32.79 years, SD = 8.91; 59.2% African American, 13.0% Caucasian, 5.6% Latina, 22.2% biracial/multiracial) who completed standardized assessments of childhood maltreatment and adulthood PTSD symptoms, and a novel instrument, the Angels in the Nursery Interview ('Angels Interview,' Van Horn, Lieberman, & Harris, 2008). Results showed that angel memories significantly moderated childhood maltreatment and adulthood PTSD symptoms, consistent with a protective effect. Higher levels of ghost memories during the Angels Interview were significantly associated with more extensive childhood maltreatment, but did not mediate maltreatment and PTSD symptoms. Findings indicate that the Angels Interview can identify pathogenic intrusions rooted in childhood maltreatment and protective factors to promote maternal mental health and buffer the intergenerational transmission of trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two experiments investigated the development of metacognitive monitoring and control, and conditions under which children engage these processes. In Experiment 1, 5-year-olds (N = 30) and 7-year-olds (N = 30), unlike adults (N = 30), showed little evidence of either monitoring or control. In Experiment 2, 5-year-olds (N = 90) were given performance feedback (aimed at improving monitoring), instruction to follow a particular strategy (aimed at improving control), or both. Across conditions, feedback improved children's monitoring, and instruction improved both monitoring and control. Thus, children's poor metacognitive performance likely reflects a difficulty engaging the component processes spontaneously rather than a lack of metacognitive ability. These findings also suggest that the component processes are distinct, with both undergoing protracted development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following Event Segmentation Theory ( EST) adult memory is enhanced at event boundaries ( EB). The present study set out to explore this in infancy. Sixty-eight 21-month-olds watched a cartoon with one of two objects (counterbalanced) inserted for 3s either at EB or between EB. Ten minutes later they watched both objects (familiar and novel) in a 10s Visual Paired Comparison ( VPC) test while being eye-tracked. Furthermore, they were asked to point to the previous object. Based on EST, we hypothesized that objects inserted at EB would be processed more fully, resulting in improved memory compared to objects inserted between EB. Only infants with objects at EB exhibited memory evidenced by a transient familiarity preference for the first 3s of the test. Only 18 infants completed the pointing test, but all infants presented with objects at EB (10/10) pointed to the correct (familiar) object, which was not the case for the infants presented with objects between EB (5/8). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from 72 infants, tested using a serial paired-comparison paradigm, were analyzed to better understand infant novelty preferences. Infants between the ages of 15 and 26 weeks were tested in three studies with familiar stimuli displayed adjacent to novel stimuli on each trial. Differences in look duration, look number, and gaze shifts directed at novel versus familiar stimuli were assessed to measure their contributions to group and individual novelty preferences. Infants produced longer looks for novel stimuli in all three studies, and stimulus differences in look duration accounted for more than 50% of the variability in individual novelty preferences. Infants that produced more looks to novel rather than familiar stimuli did not produce overall novelty preferences unless they also looked longer at novel stimuli. Gaze shift patterns did not predict individual novelty preferences, and novel stimuli did not determine where infants looked. The infants' visual exploration was constrained by memories for the direction of the previous look as well as by the attention-holding features of novel stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of a pre‐existing resource inequality, the concerns for strict equality (allocating the same number of resources to all recipients) conflict with the concerns for equity (allocating resources to rectify the inequality). This study demonstrated age‐related changes in children's (3–8 years old, N = 133) ability to simultaneously weigh the concerns for equality and equity through the analysis of children's judgements, allocations, and reasoning in the context of a pre‐existing inequality. Three‐ to 4‐year‐olds took equity into account in their judgements of allocations, but allocated resources equally in a behavioural task. In contrast, 5‐ to 6‐year‐olds rectified the inequality in their allocations, but judged both equitable and equal allocations to be fair. It was not until 7–8 years old that children focused on rectifying the inequality in their allocations and judgements, as well as judged equal allocations less positively than equitable allocations, thereby demonstrating a more complete understanding of the necessity of rectifying inequalities. The novel findings revealed age‐related changes from 3 to 8 years old regarding how the concerns for equity and equality develop, and how children's judgements, allocations, and reasoning are coordinated when making allocation decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotion regulation predicts positive academic outcomes like learning, but little is known about why. Effective emotion regulation likely promotes learning by broadening the scope of what may be attended to after an emotional event. One hundred twenty-six 6- to 13-year-olds' (54% boys) regulation of sadness was examined for changes in emotional experience, information processing, and memory for subsequent neutral information. Instructions to use specific strategies (distancing, positive reappraisal, rumination, or no strategy) predicted changes in sadness and happiness but did not predict information processing or memory. Effective regulation of sadness (regardless of instructions) predicted better memory through the indirect effect of broadened information processing but only for older children. Implications for emotion regulation processes in childhood are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explains the cognitive dynamics theory of visual working memory as it is implemented in a formal model. Topics covered include theories of development in the change detection and change-preference tasks, the difference in the formation of memory representations and the influence of memory on behavior, and the key components of the cognitive dynamics account of performance in the change-preference and change detection tasks.

The article tests three behavioral predictions of the cognitive dynamics account that are generated by implementing both change detection and change-preference tasks in a dynamic neural field model. These include the need for capacity estimates for children and adults to be greater than four items in the change-preference task, and the correlation across tasks over development as both depend upon the same visual working memory system.

The article tests whether increasing stability in infants' memory can be expanded to account for development through early childhood and into adulthood in the change-preference task. Topics covered include quantitative simulations of the dynamic model, an analysis of how the processes within the model differ as a function of developmental change, and the potential sources of developmental change in connectivity.

The article presents questions and challenges with regard to developmental improvements in visual working memory. These include an eye-tracking measure of infants' capacity, the resolution of memory representations, the representation of multiple visual features in bound objects, and the role of attention in visual working memory performance.

An appendix of equations that govern activation in the five fields of the unified model of behavior, memory and development used in the monograph is presented.

This commentary considers Vanessa Simmering's monograph on a dynamic‐systems theoretical approach to understanding working memory development, with reference to the past, present, and future. In the section on the past, I attempt to provide a further historical context for the work, discussing from where it stemmed and how it is unique. In a second section, I contemplate the purpose of the present modeling. The aim of the monograph may be primarily to establish a simple possible account of development based on neural connection strength and dynamic principles; it should not be judged as a proposal of what is necessarily true. Finally, in the section on the future, I suggest some phenomena that dissociate performance levels from stability over time and, therefore, appear to require modifications of the theory. Several suggestions are made as to where further refinement of the modeling effort could lead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working memory is a vital cognitive skill that underlies a broad range of behaviors. Higher cognitive functions are reliably predicted by working memory measures from two domains: children's performance on complex span tasks, and infants’ performance in looking paradigms. Despite the similar predictive power across these research areas, theories of working memory development have not connected these different task types and developmental periods. The current project takes a first step toward bridging this gap by presenting a process‐oriented theory, focusing on two tasks designed to assess visual working memory capacity in infants (the change‐preference task) versus children and adults (the change detection task). Previous studies have shown inconsistent results, with capacity estimates increasing from one to four items during infancy, but only two to three items during early childhood. A probable source of this discrepancy is the different task structures used with each age group, but prior theories were not sufficiently specific to explain how performance relates across tasks. The current theory focuses on cognitive dynamics, that is, how memory representations are formed, maintained, and used within specific task contexts over development. This theory was formalized in a computational model to generate three predictions: 1) capacity estimates in the change‐preference task should continue to increase beyond infancy; 2) capacity estimates should be higher in the change‐preference versus change detection task when tested within individuals; and 3) performance should correlate across tasks because both rely on the same underlying memory system. I also tested a fourth prediction, that development across tasks could be explained through increasing real‐time stability, realized computationally as strengthening connectivity within the model. Results confirmed these predictions, supporting the cognitive dynamics account of performance and developmental changes in real‐time stability. The monograph concludes with implications for understanding memory, behavior, and development in a broader range of cognitive development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although young children can map a novel name to a novel object, it remains unclear what they actually remember about objects when they initially make such a name-object association. In the current study we investigated (1) what children remembered after they were initially introduced to name-object associations and (2) how their vocabulary size and vocabulary structure influenced what they remembered. As a group, children had difficulty remembering each of the features of the original novel objects. Further analyses revealed that differences in vocabulary structure predicted children's ability to remember object features. Specifically, children who produced many names for categories organized by similarity in shape (e.g. ball, cup) had the best memory for newly-learned objects' features-especially their shapes. In addition, the more features children remembered, the more likely they were to retain the newly learned name-object associations. Vocabulary size, however, was not predictive of children's feature memory or retention. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that children's existing vocabulary structure, rather than simply vocabulary size, influences what they attend to when encountering a new object and subsequently their ability to remember new name-object associations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the influence of age and emotionality of auditory stimuli on long-term memory for environmental sound events. Sixty children aged 7-11 years were presented with two environmental sound events: an emotional car crash and a neutral event, someone brushing their teeth. The sound events comprised six individual environmental sounds, and the participants passively listened to the sound events through a headset. After a two-week delay, participants performed a cued recall task and a recognition task. Independent of age, children were notably poor at recalling the sound events. Children recalled and recognized significantly more sounds from the emotional sound event than the neutral sound event. Additionally, the older children performed the recall task better than the younger children. The present findings confirm and expand the previously reported superiority of emotional material in memory.Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four tasks (N = 191, 3- to 6-year-olds) examined the effect of instrumental versus conventional language cues on children's imitative fidelity of a necklace-making activity, their memory and transmission of the activity, and their perceptions of functional fixedness. Children in the conventional condition imitated with higher fidelity, transmitted more of the modeled behavior, and showed higher levels of functional fixedness than children in the instrumental condition. There were no differences in children's memory of the activity between conditions demonstrating that memory alone does not explain differences in imitative fidelity. The data demonstrate that children's interpretation of behavior as instrumental or conventional has wide-ranging implications for what children imitate, what they transmit to others, and how they reason about objects' functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD)-like symptoms are common in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders ( FASD). FASD and ADHD groups both display executive function impairments; however, there is ongoing debate whether the pattern and magnitude of executive function deficits differs between these two types of disorders. Methods An electronic literature search was conducted (PubMed, PsychInfo; 1972-2013) to identify studies comparing the executive functioning of children with FASD with ADHD or control groups. FASD groups included those with and without dysmorphy (i.e., FAS, pFAS, ARND, and other FASD diagnoses). Effect sizes (Hedges' g, standardized mean difference) were calculated. Random effects meta-analytic models were performed using the metafor package for R. Results Fifty-one studies met inclusion criteria ( FASD N = 2,115; ADHD N = 453; controls N = 1,990). Children with FASD showed the strongest and most consistent deficits in planning, fluency, and set-shifting compared to controls (Hedges' g = −0.94, −0.78) and children with ADHD (Hedges' g = −0.72, −0.32). FASD was associated with moderate to large impairments in working memory, compared to controls (Hedges' g = -.84, -.58) and small impairments relative to groups with ADHD (Hedges' g = -.26). Smaller and less consistent deficits were found on measures of inhibition and vigilance relative to controls (Hedges' g = −0.52, −0.31); FASD and ADHD were not differentiated on these measures. Moderator analyses indicated executive dysfunction was associated with older age, dysmorphy, and larger group differences in IQ. Sex and diagnostic system were not consistently related to effect size. Conclusions While FASD is associated with global executive impairments, executive function weaknesses are most consistent for measures of planning, fluency, and set-shifting. Neuropsychological measures assessing these executive function domains may improve differential diagnosis and treatment of FASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Whereas research has indicated that children with Down syndrome (DS) imitate demonstrated actions over short delays, it is presently unknown whether children with DS recall information over lengthy delays at levels comparable with typically developing (TD) children matched on developmental age. Method In the present research, 10 children with DS and 10 TD children participated in a two-session study to examine basic processes associated with hippocampus-dependent recall memory. At the first session, the researcher demonstrated how to complete a three-step action sequence with novel stimuli; immediate imitation was permitted as an index of encoding. At the second session, recall memory was assessed for previously modelled sequences; children were also presented with two novel three-step control sequences. Results The results indicated that group differences were not apparent in the encoding of the events or the forgetting of information over time. Group differences were also not observed when considering the recall of individual target actions at the 1-month delay, although TD children produced more target actions overall at the second session relative to children with DS. Group differences were found when considering memory for temporal order information, such that TD children evidenced recall relative to novel control sequences, whereas children with DS did not. Conclusions These findings suggest that children with DS may have difficulty with mnemonic processes associated with consolidation/storage and/or retrieval processes relative to TD children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The loss of a childhood language, especially in adoptees, has attracted scholars' attention in the past, but a search for any memory traces has yielded conflicting results. In a psycholinguistic tradition known as the savings paradigm, a learn-and-relearn technique is employed to examine whether the relearning of lexical items once known, often in a second or foreign language, can lead to a rate of learning advantage for old (previously known) over new (previously unknown) words. The present study adopted this technique to examine remnants of a lost childhood language in TJ, an adoptee who did not know her linguistic background prior to her adoption at the age of 3 years. Delayed posttests provided evidence for the savings effect for old words: TJ showed better savings for words that were likely known in her childhood language at the age of 3. In contrast, the comparison group revealed no effect for old words over new ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Research on retelling ability and cognition is limited in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and speech impairment. Aims To explore the impact of expressive and receptive language, narrative discourse dimensions (Narrative Assessment Profile measures), auditory and visual memory, theory of mind (ToM) and non-verbal cognition on the retelling ability of children with CP and speech impairment. Methods & Procedures Fifteen speaking children with speech impairment (seven girls, eight boys) (mean age = 11 years, SD = 1;4 years), and different types of CP and different levels of gross motor and cognitive function participated in the present study. Story retelling skills were tested and analysed with the Bus Story Test (BST) and the Narrative Assessment Profile (NAP). Receptive language ability was tested with the Test for Reception of Grammar-2 (TROG-2) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - IV (PPVT-IV). Non-verbal cognitive level was tested with the Raven's coloured progressive matrices (RCPM), memory functions assessed with the Corsi block-tapping task (CB) and the Digit Span from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III. ToM was assessed with the false belief items of the two story tests 'Kiki and the Cat' and 'Birthday Puppy'. Outcomes & Results The children had severe problems with retelling ability corresponding to an age-equivalent of 5;2-6;9 years. Receptive and expressive language, visuo-spatial and auditory memory, non-verbal cognitive level and ToM varied widely within and among the children. Both expressive and receptive language correlated significantly with narrative ability in terms of NAP total scores, so did auditory memory. Conclusion & Implications The results suggest that retelling ability in the children with CP in the present study is dependent on language comprehension and production, and memory functions. Consequently, it is important to examine retelling ability together with language and cognitive abilities in these children in order to provide appropriate support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated 3- to 7-year-olds' (N = 91) comprehension of two-clause sentences containing the temporal connectives before or after. The youngest children used an order of mention strategy to interpret the relation between clauses: They were more accurate when the presentation order matched the chronological order of events: "He ate his lunch, before he played in the garden" (chronological) versus "Before he played in the garden, he ate his lunch" (reverse). Between 4 and 6 years, performance was influenced by a combination of factors that influenced processing load: connective type and presentation order. An independent measure of working memory was predictive of performance. The study concludes that the memory demands of some sentence structures limits young children's comprehension of sentences containing temporal connectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]