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Updated: Jun 3, 2026
06:35
Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm
Published on: April 28, 2016
Infant long-term memory for associations formed during mere exposure
Amy Giles1, Carolyn Rovee-Collier
1Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, 87 Pine Hill Rd., Stockton, NJ 08559-1112, USA. abullmangiles@gmail.com
Infant Behavior & Development
|April 9, 2011
Summary
Infants form associations when seeing stimuli together. This study shows that how stimuli are presented, specifically in two sessions, significantly impacts how long infants remember these associations, with younger infants retaining them longer.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Infant Learning
- Memory Formation
Background:
- Young infants spontaneously form associations between co-occurring stimuli.
- Understanding the factors influencing the persistence of these early associations is crucial for cognitive development research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the duration of latent associations in infants.
- To determine how different exposure conditions affect the persistence of these associations.
- To compare memory retention between 6- and 9-month-old infants.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a sensory preconditioning paradigm with 6- and 9-month-old infants.
- Varied preexposure regimens: 1 hour/day for 2 days, 1 hour on 1 day, or 1 hour on 1 day in two sessions.
- Assessed memory retention by measuring imitation of actions on a novel but associated stimulus after delays of 1-27 days.
Main Results:
- The preexposure regimen significantly influenced memory retention.
- Infants demonstrated longer retention of associations following two exposure sessions compared to a single session.
- Younger infants (6-month-olds) remembered associations for up to 4 weeks, longer than older infants (9-month-olds), after two 30-minute sessions.
Conclusions:
- The structure of early learning experiences, not just duration, critically impacts memory persistence in infants.
- Two-session exposure enhances the longevity of learned associations in young infants.
- Developmental differences exist in the rate of forgetting early learned associations.
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