Developmental 3: Memory and executive function

Question 1

Piaget found that children below 8 months do not have object permanence - what does this mean?

Answer 1

They do not search for a hidden object
“Out of sight, out of mind”, for infants when the object is hidden it no longer exists
Cannot mentally represent the object

Question 2

How does more recent object permanence research challenge Piaget’s findings?

Answer 2

More recent studies show evidence that much younger infants do keep track of hidden objects, when performance demands are reduced. Measure looking behaviour instead of searching responses.

There may be limitations of infants’ developing motor responses, despite awareness that an object is present but out of reach

Question 3

Baillargeon et al. (1985) measured looking time instead of motor response to test object permanence. What did the experiment involve and what were the results?

Answer 3

Infant habituated to board moving backwards and forwards
Box placed behind - possible event is that box blocks board, and impossible event is that box does not stop board - it has disappeared
Infants look longer at impossible event (5 month olds)

Question 4

What is the A not B error?

Answer 4

An object is hidden at A, infant searches for it at A
This is repeated several times
Then, object is hidden at B
Infant still searches at A

Question 5

How does Piaget explain the A not B error and how do looking time studies contradict this?

Answer 5

Infants believe they make the object appear by searching for it

But looking time studies show that much younger infants keep track of where hidden objects are
Many alternative accounts of the A not B error based on specific cognitive abilities, including memory, inhibition, motor control

Question 6

What is infantile amnesia?

Answer 6

Theory that children under 18 months incapable of mentally representing objects and events, live in a “here and now” world

Question 7

What contradicts infantile amnesia?

Answer 7

Once specialised methods were developed to assess early memories, research showed infants to have similar kinds of memory abilities to adults
This suggests that the major developmental changes are quantitative (capacity, duration)

Question 8

What two brain areas communicate to form long term memories?

Answer 8

Hippocampus and cerebral cortex

Question 9

How did Hunter (1917) measure duration of working memory (STM) in infants with the delayed response?

Answer 9

Interest infant in a stimulus, hide it, test after how long an interval it is correctly found -> estimate of duration of working memory (STM)

Question 10

Development of what brain area was proposed by Diamond and Doar (1989) to be crucial for working memory (STM)?

Answer 10

Prefrontal cortex

Question 11

Performance in relation to age on the delayed response task is similar to that for the A not B task - what does this imply?

Answer 11

There is a similar mechanism involved in both

Question 12

What is the digit span of 5 year olds and 12 year olds?

Answer 12

6-7 for 12 year olds
4 for 5 year olds

Question 13

What factors influence development of STM capacity?

Answer 13

• Items of interest remembered better
• Development of chunking strategies
• Development of rehearsal strategies

Question 14

How was recognition memory measured by Rovee-Collier?

Answer 14

3 month old in cot - mobile ahead attached to infant’s foot with a string, when infant kicks, mobile moves

1 week delay
Infants learn that kicking makes the mobile move, but do they remember? (Ribbon attached to side of cot instead of mobile on second trial)

Question 15

What were results of Rovee-Collier’s experiment on 3 month-old memory?

Answer 15

3 month-olds remembered after a 1 week delay
- Given the same number of training sessions, max length of retention increases linearly with age
- But having more training sessions can extend the retention interval even at younger ages

Question 16

At 8 weeks old, how long do infants remember when they have 2x 9 minute training sessions?

Answer 16

2 days

Question 17

At 8 weeks old, how long do infants remember when they have 3x 6 minute training sessions? What does this show?

Answer 17

2 weeks

Infants can form long term memories very early in life

Question 18

Older infants are better able to be prompted by a novel mobile and remember in a new context, and infants remember for longer when given more short training sessions opposed to fewer long training sessions - does this mean there is one answer to how long an infant can remember?

Answer 18

No - it depends on how it was learned

Question 19

What kind of memory is recognition memory?

Answer 19

Declarative or explicit

Question 20

What kind of memory is priming?

Answer 20

Implicit

Question 21

What was Bauer and Leventon’s (2013) test of nonverbal recall (deferred imitation/elicited imitation)?

Answer 21

Infants from 6 months old are asked to imitate adult action sequences

Tests explicit memory

Question 22

Using Bauer and Leventon’s test of deferred imitation, if an adult teaches an infant how to make a shaker, how long can an infant remember these actions for?

Answer 22

Preverbal infants recall action sequences many months later

Memory duration increases with age:
Less than 1 year - few days to a week
18 months - 10-13 weeks

Question 23

What factors other than age can influence retention intervals in infants (Bauer’s experiment)?

Answer 23

More repetitions of task/longer watch opportunity = longer recall
For 6-month-olds:
30-sec watch> only immediate imitation
60-sec watch> remember for 24hrs

Also - importance of post-encoding processes (e.g. consolidation - putting info into LTM and practicing it)

Question 24

Does memory development happen in a stage-like way?

Answer 24

No - it is a gradual development
(Ability to hold more info for longer gradually develops with age)

Question 25

Can children below 3 form episodic memories?

Answer 25

Yes 2- to 3-year-olds remember specific events over long time periods: studied by asking children to recall events that happened to them – e.g. visit to Disney World, birth of a sibling, trip to hospital

Question 26

Bauer et al (2007) - studied 7- to 10-year-old children’s autobiographical memories using 14 cue words (e.g. “ice cream”) to recall events, and a timeline with pictures to date them. Mothers verified the events. What was found out about the recalled memories?

Answer 26

Like adults, most memories were recalled in the past 2-3 years (graph builds only slowly after this) Average time elapsed since event didn’t correlate with age. Youngest memory at 3y8mo – very similar to adult Can form them - just forget them Rapid early forgetting, then forgetting slows - memories are consolidated more in adulthood

Question 27

How does the forgetting curve differ between children and adults?

Answer 27

In adults, power function: over time since the memory, forgetting slows, presumably as a result of consolidation: older memories are less vulnerable. In children, exponential function: forgetting continues at a constant rate, implying memories are not consolidated. Even older memories are vulnerable to being forgotten. Why does it differ - lack of consolidation in childhood

Question 28

Why is there a lack of early memories in life?

Answer 28

Not because they were not laid down, but because more likely to be forgotten. More forgetting perhaps because of development and change and reorganisation in memory networks in the brain.

Question 29

Does number of details and level of complexity in narratives increase across childhood? Why might this be?

Answer 29

Yes Relations between children’s memory for life events and improvements in their general cognitive abilities, such as speed of processing, source memory, and memory for temporal order.

Question 30

How long can an item be held in STM at 7 months vs 12 months?

Answer 30

2s at 7 months 10s at 12 months

Question 31

What aids memory consolidation?

Answer 31

Sleep

Question 32

What short-term brain developments (first 2 years) aid in increasing memory capabilites?

Answer 32

Major prefrontal cortex development, including synaptic growth in first 2 years Then further development like synaptic pruning

Question 33

What long-term brain developments aid in increasing memory capabilities?

Answer 33

Hippocampus, esp. dentate gyrus, developing significantly to age 4-5 years. Hippocampus continues to increase in volume into adolescence.

Question 34

What EEG differences were found in 7 -12 month infants who can vs who cannot solve the A not B task (after a long 13 second delay)?

Answer 34

Difference in: Power of EEG signal at frontal electrodes Coherence of EEG signal between front and back electrodes Individual differences in brain activity (related to maturation of PFC) explain some of the individual differences in A not B performance

Question 35

What structural developments correlate with development of LTM abilities?

Answer 35

Fornix = white matter pathway from hippocampus to the rest of brain - Fornix macrostructure increases with age - These increases are correlated with improved episodic memory

Question 36

What is executive function?

Answer 36

An interrelated set of “high level” cognitive skills, including planning, reasoning, working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility.

Question 37

What does the Tower of London task test?

Answer 37

Planning

Question 38

What does the A not B task test?

Answer 38

Working memory and inhibition

Question 39

Which brain area is crucial for executive function?

Answer 39

Prefrontal cortex Damage to prefrontal cortex = problems with planning, inhibition, cognitive control

Question 40

What is working memory?

Answer 40

STM for holding items needed for an ongoing task Aspect of EF and memory

Question 41

What does increased retention interval for spatial location correlate with?

Answer 41

Age - development of the PFC

Question 42

What does the dimensional change card sort task entail and measure?

Answer 42

Sort cards in one way - e.g. by colour Then switch: Sort cards another way - e.g. by shape Measures cognitive flexibility

Question 43

At what age can children successfully switch in the dimensional change card sort task? Who is impaired in this task?

Answer 43

4 years Children younger than 4 years, children with ADHD and autism

Question 44

Performance on the tower of Hanoi task increases with age - what does this measure?

Answer 44

Planning Older children more likely to pursue long term goals, could keep more subgoals in mind

Question 45

What child test of inhibition is the equivalent of the stroop test in adults?

Answer 45

Day and night task Picture shows sun or moon Words say day or night - do not always match

Question 46

What is performance on the day and night task like at 3.5 years and 7 years?

Answer 46

70% correct at 3.5 years 90% correct at age 7 years

Question 47

What three abilities make up common EF?

Answer 47

Updating ability (WM) Shifting ability Inhibition ability

Question 48

Which abilities underlying common EF have unique variance outside of common EF? What does this suggest?

Answer 48

Updating-specific (WM) Shifting-specific Inhibition is main ability underlying EF - can be really good at inhibition or common EF, but really bad at shifting

Question 49

What brain region is the very last to mature?

Answer 49

Frontal regions (PFC) - pruning still happens until age 20 (grey matter density decreases)

Question 50

In a study where children did a card sorting task while brain activity was recorded via NIRS (measures blood oxygenation related to brain function), how did children aged 3 and 5 perform on the behavioural measure?

Answer 50

Nearly all aged 5 but only 75% aged 3 successfully switch rules

Question 51

In a study where children did a card sorting task while brain activity was recorded via NIRS (measures blood oxygenation related to brain function), how did brain activity differ between children who passed and children who persevered?

Answer 51

Change in blood oxygenation in prefrontal areas Higher oxygenation for those who passed

Question 52

What are examples of conditions that involve atypical development of EF? Is EF impairment alone enough to explain these disorders?

Answer 52

ASD ADHD Tourette syndrome No Not all children who meet clinical diagnosis for ASD or ADHD show EF impairment

Question 53

What other abilities may EF impairment impair?

Answer 53

Reading difficulty, specific language impairment Predicts behavioural problems