Memory independence and memory interference in cognitive development. Review uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Recent experiments have established the surprising fact that age improvements in reasoning are often dissociated from improvements in memory for determinative informational inputs. Fuzzy-trace theory explains this memory-independence effect on the grounds that reasoning operations do not directly access verbatim traces of critical background information but, rather, process gist that was retrieved and edited in parallel with the encoding of such information. This explanation also envisions 2 ways in which children's memory and reasoning might be mutually interfering: (a) memory-to-reasoning interference, a tendency to process verbatim traces of background inputs on both memory probes and reasoning problems that simultaneously improves memory performance and impairs reasoning, and (b) reasoning-to-memory interference, a tendency for reasoning activities that produce problem solutions to erase or reduce the distinctiveness of verbatim traces of background inputs. Both forms of interference were detected in studies of children's story inferences.

publication date

  • January 1, 1993

Research

keywords

  • Child Development
  • Concept Formation
  • Mental Recall
  • Retention, Psychology

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0027352696

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1037/0033-295x.100.1.42

PubMed ID

  • 8426881

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 100

issue

  • 1