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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
06:35
Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm
Published on: April 28, 2016
Relationships between study organization, retrieval organization, and general and strategy-specific memory knowledge
G Lange1, R E Guttentag, R E Nida
1Department of Child Development and Family Relations, University of North Carolina, Greensboro 27412.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
|February 1, 1990
Summary
Young children
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Psychology
- Educational Psychology
Background:
- Children's memory development is influenced by their understanding and use of organizational strategies.
- Metamemory, or knowledge about memory, plays a crucial role in strategy selection and effectiveness.
- Investigating how different types of organization (taxonomic vs. color) impact recall is essential for understanding memory development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationship between young children's memory knowledge and their use of taxonomic and color memory organization strategies.
- To assess the impact of training on the use of study and retrieval organization.
- To explore age-related differences in the association between metamemory, strategy use, and recall proficiency.
Main Methods:
- Forty-eight children aged 5, 6, and 7 years participated.
- Children completed metamemory assessments and participated in study-recall tasks before and after training in color or taxonomic organization.
- Measures included organization-strategy knowledge, general memory knowledge, study organization (grouping), retrieval organization (clustering), and item recall.
Main Results:
- Study organization scores significantly improved after training, while training effects on retrieval organization and item recall were less pronounced.
- Taxonomic organization at study related to retrieval organization only in 7-year-olds; color organization showed no such relationship at any age.
- Metamemory, strategy use, and recall proficiency were linked in 7-year-olds but not younger children.
Conclusions:
- Training enhances children's ability to organize information at study, but this does not consistently translate to improved retrieval or recall across all ages.
- Older children (7-year-olds) demonstrate a greater ability to link taxonomic organization strategies with metamemory knowledge and recall performance.
- Specific strategy knowledge is a more reliable predictor of strategy use and memory performance than general mastery orientation in young children.
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