Organization of infant memory

The differential retrieval of specific details and general features was studied in a conditioning paradigm with 3-mo.-olds. Infants learned to move a crib mobile by foot kicking and produced high response rates during cued-recall tests with the same components after retention intervals of 24, 48, 72, and 96 hr. Use of a novel mobile during retention tests significantly reduced responding for as long as 3 days after training. As time since training increased, however, response rate gradually increased until, after 96 hr., it was high and indistinguishable from response to the original mobile. The latter was interpreted as (a) the failure to detect specific details as novel after 96 hr. and (b) the use of general features of the novel mobile as an instance of the general class "mobiles" as retrieval cues. The data demonstrate that access to general visual features persists longer than access to specific visual details.