Infant Memory

The study of infant memory has flourished in the past decade for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the tremendous growth of interest in normal and pathological adult memory that began in the late fifties. Despite its common lineage to other areas of memory research, however, infant memory has perhaps been the least integrated into the mainstream. In reading the literature, one gets a sense of discontinuity between the study of infant memory and memory at all other stages of development from childhood to old age. The reasons for this are not hard to find. The techniques used to study memory in infants are usually very different from those typically used even in children. These techniques often limit the kind of inferences one can draw about the nature of the memory systems under investigation. Even when terms, concepts, and theories from the adult literature are applied to infants, they often bear only a loose relationship to their original usage. For example, an infant who stares longer at a new pattern than an old one is said to "recognize" the old one and to have a memory system that shares many characteristics with a memory system that makes recognition possible in adults. Simi larly, an infant who emits a previously learned response, such as a leg kick, to an old stimulus is said to "recall" that response and to be engaged in processes similar to those of adults who are recalling past events.

Springer Book Archives

1 Infant Memory: History, Current Trends, Relations to Cognitive Psychology.- Overview.- Infant Visual Recognition Memory.- Integration of Infant Memory and General Cognitive Psychology.- Discussion.- References.- 2 The Development of Infant Memory.- The Neonatal Period and the First Few Months.- Elaboration of Basic Perceptual and Memory Processes.- The Emergence of Active, Schema-Driven Processing.- Conclusions.- References.- 3 Art Ecological Approach to Infant Memory.- The Ecological Approach.- Infants' Recognition of Objects and Events.- Events Involving the Subject's Motor Activity.- What is Memory?.- References.- 4 Representation and Recall in Infancy.- The Ontogenesis of Recall.- Schema Formation and Recall.- Conclusions.- References.- 5 The Transition from Infant to Child Memory.- Central Issues in the Transition.- Memories from the Crib.- References.- 6 What Do Infants Remember?.- Memories and Consequences.- Memory as Retrieval.- Recognition and Recall.- Episodic and Nonepisodic Memory.- Some Conclusions.- References.- 7 Infantile Amnesia: A Neurobiological Perspective.- Multiple Memory Systems.- Habituation, Exploration, and Novelty Reactions.- Developmental Neuroanatomy.- Ontogeny of Learning.- Developmental Perspectives.- References.- 8 Infants, Amnesics, and Dissociable Memory Systems.- Forms of Memory in Human Amnesia.- Dissociations between Forms of Memory in Normal Adults.- Studies of Infant Memory.- Habituation-Novelty-Preference Tasks.- Conditioning and Learning.- Searching for Hidden and Visible Objects: The Role of Forgetting.- Conclusions.- References.