A Developmental Study of Constructive Memory

Recognition for four types of sentences was assessed in 45 male and female kindergarteners, second, and fourth graders following story presentations, the recognition task consisting of true and false premise and inference sentences. The false recognition of the true inference type of sentence was thought to be indicative of active construction of meaning on the part of the child. The overall pattern of results revealed some interesting developmental trends: Apparently, the children in the second grade were as sensitive as those in the fourth grade to the overall meaning of a story, but they lacked the older youngsters' ability to distinguish between explicit and inferential information.