Children's learning & development
An online national survey of 2,012 adult Americans (of whom 948 were parents) has found that, while the vast majority (87%) don’t know the definition of a concussion and many don’t know the injury is treatable, there is a high level of concern and even fear across the country.
Data from 1,895 fourth and fifth grade children living in El Paso, Texas has found that those who were exposed to high levels of motor vehicle emissions had significantly lower GPAs, even when accounting for other factors known to influence school performance.
The link between air pollution and academic performance may be direct (pollutants damage the brain) or indirect — through illness and absenteeism.
The finding adds to other evidence linking air pollution around schools to children's academic performance.
A study of 438 first- and second-grade students and their primary caregivers has revealed that parents' math anxiety affects their children's math performance — but (and this is the surprising bit) only when they frequently help them with their math homework.
The study builds on previous research showing that students learn less math when their teachers are anxious about math. This is not particularly surprising, and it wouldn't have been surprising if this study had found that math-anxious parents had math-anxious children. But the story wasn't that simple.
A small study involving 50 children and teens living in Mexico City (aged 13.4 ± 4.8 years) has found that those with the 'Alzheimer's gene' APOEε4 (22 of the 50) were more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution on cognition. Those with the gene variant had a reduced NAA/Cr ratio in the right frontal white matter (as those with Alzheimer's do), poorer attention and short-term memory, and below-average scores in Verbal and Full Scale IQ (>10 points), compared to those with the 'normal' ε3 variant.
Several recent studies add to the evidence that physical fitness boosts cognitive processing in children.
A brain imaging study involving 24 9- and 10-year-olds has found that physical fitness was associated with significant differences in the integrity of several white-matter tracts in the brain: the corpus callosum, the superior longitudinal fasciculus, and the superior corona radiata. All of these are involved in learning and memory. The differences are associated with faster and more efficient nerve activity.
Following a previous study linking higher maternal levels of two common chemicals with slower mental and motor development in preschoolers, a new study has found that this effect continues into school age.
The study involved 328 inner-city mothers and their children. The mothers' levels of prenatal urinary metabolites of di-n-butyl phthalate (DnBP), butylbenzyl phthalate (BBzP), di-isobutyl phthalate (DiBP), di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate and diethyl phthalate were measured in late pregnancy. IQ tests were given to the children at age 7.
Research into whether young children can improve recall by using visual imagery has produced mixed results. It would seem that, in general, the instruction to generate mental images does not improve recall in children 5 yrs and younger, but does improve recall in children 8 years and above. Children of six and seven appear to be at a transitional stage whereby some children can use the strategy effectively in some situations.
Danner FW & Taylor AM. 1973. Integrated pictures and relational imagery training in children’s learning. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 16, 47-54.
Finding: trained 1st, 3rd and 6th graders to use interactive imagery to recall sets of three concrete nouns. There were three different training methods:
(1) The children were trained to generate their own interactive images, by drawing three integrated pictures of the separate pictures of nouns. For the first practice set they were shown an example of an integrated picture. The experimenter asked them to describe the relationship between the three items, then cued recall of two items with a picture of the third. There were two more practice sets, in which the child received encouragement and correction.
(2) The children were shown three integrated pictures (each showing integration of three items). Each picture was presented for 20 seconds, during which the items were named and the child asked to remember them. Recall of two items was cued by showing a picture of the third.
(3) The children were simply presented with integrated pictures.
It was found that 6th graders recalled more when required to generate own images (i.e., trained using method 1). For 1st and 3rd graders, methods 1 and 2 were equally good for training. Since pictures are usually more effective than visual imagery for these ages, these results indicate the benefits of training. It’s worth noting that only 15-20 seconds were given for the child to generate their own image, and greater benefits might well have been apparent if the child had been given more time.
The story, or sentence, mnemonic is a verbal mnemonic in which words to be remembered are linked together in a sentence or sentences. It is an effective strategy for learning a list of words.
The research confirms that memory even in very young children can be helped by teaching them to use this verbal mnemonic strategy.
It is more effective if the words (usually nouns) are linked by verbs rather than prepositions — simply stringing together words like this: The cat and the banana and the boat were in the sky” is much less memorable than composing: “The cat ate the banana and tossed the boat into the sky.”
Sentence mnemonics have been effectively used by 6th graders (10 year olds) to remember the correct spelling of words.
Levin JR & Rohwer WD 1968. Verbal organization and the facilitation of serial learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 59, 186-91.
Finding: gave 4th and 5th graders a sentence mnemonic to recall 14 nouns. For example, the grey cat/jumped over the log/and crossed the street/to find the bowl/of cold milk/under the chair/in the new house/by the blue lake/where the young boy/lost his left shoe/while eating the fish/on the wooden boat/during the storm/that came last year. Recall of the 14 nouns was better using the sentence mnemonic than simply learning the list of nouns.
Negin GA 1978. Mnemonics and demonic words. Reading Improvement, 15, 180-2.
Finding: used sentence mnemonics to reduce spelling errors. Ten misspelled words were selected from 6th graders’ written assignments. The children were given two hours’ instruction on the use of sentence mnemonics in remembering spelling. They were given examples such as, “She screamed EEE as she passed the cemetery”; “StationERy is for a lettER”; “My skin shows resisTANce to a TAN”. They were told they could use two sentences if it was too hard to put in one. They were instructed to compare their misspellings with the proper form, locate the discrepancy, create a sentence associating the word with the correct spelling and rehearse the sentence. Their learning was compared with a group of children who were told to compare misspellings with the correct form, write each word in a meaningful sentence, underline the difficult section and rehearse the word. After each practice session, the children formed pairs and dictated words to each other. After six weeks, there was no significant difference in performance between the two groups, but after ten weeks, the children using mnemonics performed significantly better.
Pressley M. 1982. Elaboration and memory development. Child Development, 53, 296-309.
Finding: reviewed the research and concluded that even nursery school children improved in their learning when instructed to generate verbal elaborations.
Rohwer WD 1966. Constraint, syntax, and meaning in paired-associate learning. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 5, 541-7. Rohwer WD 1970. Images and pictures in children’s learning: Research results and educational implications. Psychology Bulletin, 73, 393-403.
Finding: sentence mnemonics using verbs (e.g., the dog closes the gate) helped remembering more than sentences using prepositions to join the nouns (e.g. the dog and the gate).
The keyword method is one of the most successful mnemonic strategies to be used in education. It is of proven effectiveness as a method of learning new words, foreign language words, and social studies facts. As a technique for learning new words, it has been compared with the following common strategies:
and is apparently more effective than any of these methods.
The keyword mnemonic has been used effectively by 4th graders (8 year olds). When pictures have been provided, it has been used effectively by 2nd graders. It is suggested that, for children 10 years and younger, instructions to visualize are supplemented by illustrating pictures.
McGivern 1981 (unpublished)
Finding: Children with greater vocabulary knowledge benefited more from generating their own keywords than being provided with them, whereas children with smaller vocabularies experienced comparable benefits from generated and provided keywords.
Levin JR 1981. The mnemonic ‘80’s: Keywords in the classroom. Educational Psychologist, 16, 65-82.
Finding: suggested that as it becomes more difficult to derive keywords, it is probable that provided keywords (rather than generated) would be more effective.
Levin, J.R., Shriberg, L.K., Miller, G.E., McCormack, C.B. & Levin, B.B. 1980. The keyword method in the classroom: How to remember the states and their capitals. The Elementary School Journal, 82, 185-91.
Finding: Studies of 2nd and 6th graders and adults have found providing pictures of interaction between the keyword and the word representing the meaning of foreign word leads to higher recall than having the person generate their own image. Keyword method successfully used with whole classrooms and small groups of elementary and junior high students. Has been employed by 8th graders to attach a persons name to a number of pieces of biographical info.
Johnson RE 1974.Abstractive processes in the remembering of prose. Journal of Educational Psychology, 66, 772-9.
Finding: the keyword method produces better results than those obtained by: (a) learning words in context (b) finding root words, and (c) learning synonyms and antonyms
Pressley M Levin J & Miller G 1982. The keyword method compared to alternative vocabulary-learning strategies. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 7, 213-26.
Finding: the keyword method produces better results than those obtained by: (d) presenting words in meaningful sentences (e) having students discriminate correct from incorrect use of words in sentences and (f) having students generate their own meaningful sentences.
Levin JR McCormick CB Miller GE Berry JK & Pressley M. 1982. Mnemonic versus nonmnemonic vocabulary-learning strategies for children. American Educational Research Journal, 19, 121-36.
Finding: successfully taught 4th graders abstract verbs (such as persuade, hesitate, object, glisten, resolve) using the keyword method. There were two steps: the child was asked to learn a keyword (word clue) for each word – keyword(s) were phonetically similar to a salient part or all of the word (e.g., purse for persuade; he’s a date for hesitate). Each pair of items (keyword and word to be learned) were presented on a card. After they had all been presented once, the child was shown cards with just the word on and asked to recall the keyword. If the child hesitated or gave the wrong answer, the card was immediately turned over and the keyword shown. The procedure was repeated twice. Most children were able to answer correctly after two trials. In step 2, the child was asked to learn the meaning of the 12 words. A colored line-drawing showing the keyword interacting with the definition of the word was presented; each card also had the word and its definition printed below the drawing (people in the drawing had dialogue balloons coming from their mouths – one character would mention the keyword, the other the word to be learned. The sentence was constructed so that the meaning of the word couldn’t be construed directly from sentence. The child was given 15 seconds to study the picture while the experimenter read the written material on the picture. It was found that children using this method remembered significantly more than children who used an alternative, instructionally sound method (82.8% vs 55%).
Levin, J.R., Shriberg, L.K., Miller, G.E., McCormack, C.B. & Levin, B.B. 1980. The keyword method in the classroom: How to remember the states and their capitals. The Elementary School Journal, 82, 185-91.
Finding: An adaptation of the keyword method was used to teach 4th and 5th graders the US states and their capitals. Step 1: the student formed an association between the name of the state and the keyword (e.g. marry for Maryland). Step 2: the student formed an association between the name of the capital and a different keyword (e.g., apple for Annapolis). The two keywords were then shown linked by a visual image (a line-drawing in which the two keyword referents were related, e.g. “The capital of Maryland is Annapolis. Here is a picture of two apples getting married”). When learning capitals, students were asked to recall the capital from the keyword, rather than the other way around, as they would ultimately be tested for recall of the capital for each state. Because backward keyword learning is more difficult, students were given up to five trials. They learned 12 capital-state pairs on the 1st day, and on 2nd day they were given 13 more, and told to learn them any way they wished. It appeared the students did not try to transfer the keyword method; the one student who did, did so ineffectively. This is not a surprising result, since they had been given the keywords and pictures, and hadn’t been taught how to produce them themselves. Results of the 1st day: those who learned using the keyword method recalled on average 78% correct vs 65.9% for those not trained in the keyword method. After two days, the keyword group remembered some 71.2%, while the nonmnemonic group's performance had fallen to 36.4%. Clearly the keyword method is of most benefit in retaining information.
Pressley M Levin J & Miller G 1981. How does the keyword method affect vocabulary comprehension and usage? Reading Research Quarterly, 16, 213-26.
Finding: suggested guidelines for using the keyword method with children: concrete stimulus support needed (especially for children 10 years and younger). Instructions to visualize may need to be supplemented by experimenter-provided illustrations etc.
Pressley & Levin 1978. Developmental constraints associated with children’s use of the keyword method of foreign language vocabulary learning. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 26, 359-72.
Finding: taught 2nd and 6th graders the keyword method to learn Spanish words. They found that the 2nd graders didn’t benefit when keywords and translations were presented verbally, but did when presented pictorially. The 6th graders were fine with both.
Levin JR Shriberg LK Miller GE McCormack CB & Levin BB 1980. The keyword method in the classroom: How to remember the states and their capitals. The Elementary School Journal, 82, 185-91.
Finding: taught 8th graders abstract attributes of towns (e.g., considerable wealth, abundant natural resources). Results indicated that pictures in which attributes were separately represented didn’t help recall. Recall was much better when the attributes were combined in a picture that incorporated the keyword.
How environment in infancy and childhood can affect the child's cognitive development.
See separate pages for the damage done by various pollutants in the environment:
An imaging study of 26 normal 9- and 10-year-olds differing only in socioeconomic status has revealed detectable differences in the response of their prefrontal cortex. While not invariant, those from lower socioeconomic levels were more likely to have low frontal lobe response. This is consistent with earlier studies, but is the first to demonstrate the effect when there is no issue of task complexity (the task was very simple; the measure was how fast the child responded to an unexpected novel picture — the response of many from low socioeconomic backgrounds was similar to the response of adults who have had a portion of their frontal lobe destroyed by a stroke). The effect is thought to be due to growing up in cognitively-impoverished and stressful environments, since these have been found to affect the prefrontal cortex in animal studies. Further research is looking into whether these brain differences can be eliminated by training.
Kishiyama, M.M. et al. 2008. Socioeconomic Disparities Affect Prefrontal Function in Children. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/uoc--esb120208.php
Age-related cognitive decline is probably a result of both genetic and environmental factors. A rat study has demonstrated that some of these environmental factors may occur in early life. Among the rats, emotional stress in infancy showed no ill effects by the time the rats reached adulthood, but as the rats reached middle age, cognitive deficits started to appear in those rats who had had stressful infancies, and progressed much more rapidly with age than among those who had had nurturing infancies. Middle-aged rats who had been exposed to early life emotional stress showed deterioration in brain-cell communication in the hippocampus.
Brunson, K. L., Kramar, E., Lin, B., Chen, Y., Colgin, L. L., Yanagihara, T. K., … Baram, T. Z. (2005). Mechanisms of Late-Onset Cognitive Decline after Early-Life Stress. J. Neurosci., 25(41), 9328-9338. Retrieved from http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/41/9328
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-10/uoc--els100605.php
A new baby has far more connections between neurons than necessary; from birth to about age 12 the brain trims 50% of these unnecessary connections while at the same time building new ones through learning and sensory stimulation — in other words, tailoring the brain to its environment. A mouse study has found that without enough sensory stimulation, infant mice lose fewer connections — indicating that connections need to be lost in order for appropriate ones to grow. The findings support the idea that parents should try to expose their children to a variety of sensory experiences.
Zuo, Y., Yang, G., Kwon, E. &Gan, W-B. 2005. Long-term sensory deprivation prevents dendritic spine loss in primary somatosensory cortex. Nature, 436, 261-265.
http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.htm3?article_id=218392607
A new study suggests that a mother who works nonstandard hours, such as evenings, nights or rotating shifts, may significantly affect her young child's intellectual development. The study used information from the National Institute of Child Health Development's (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care, which tracked 1,364 children from 10 sites around the country from birth in 1991 through 36 months. Her study focused on 900 children whose mothers had worked in the first three years of their child's life. About half the working mothers worked at nonstandard hours during this time. Even after controlling for the quality of the home environment and child care, maternal depression, and the mother's sensitivity towards her children, researchers found that the children of mothers who worked nonstandard work schedules during their first three years of life performed much worse on cognitive tests, particularly if these schedules began in the 1st year, and particularly for measures of cognitive development at 24 months and expressive language at 36 months. It’s suggested that one reason may be the type of care children receive when their mothers work such hours.
Han, W-J. 2005. Maternal Nonstandard Work Schedules and Child Cognitive Outcomes. Child Development, 76 (1), 137-154.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-02/sfri-mws020105.php
An association between disorganized, noisy and cramped homes and lower childhood intelligence has been observed before, but the reasons for the association have never been clear. Now a study of some 8000 3- and 4-year-old twins has perhaps disentangled the variables, and has found that chaos had an influence on cognitive skills independent of socioeconomic status. The findings also suggest that when the environment is more stressful, intelligence is more likely to be constrained by genes.
Petrill, S.A., Pike, A., Price, T. & Plomin, R. 2004. Chaos in the home and socioeconomic status are associated with cognitive development in early childhood: Environmental mediators identified in a genetic design. Intelligence, 32 (5), 445-460.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996323
See separate pages for
Infant environment (environmental factors that can affect the child's development)
An exam, called the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) Network Neurobehavioral Scale (NNNS), has been created to identify newborns who may have problems with school readiness and behavior at age four. This opens up the possibility of early intervention to prevent these problems. The screening exam has been tested on 1248 babies, mostly black and on public assistance. Five discrete behavioral profiles were reliably identified; the most extreme negative profile was found in 5.8% of the infants. Infants with poor performance were more likely to have behavior problems at age three, school readiness problems at age four, and low IQ at 4 ½ — 40% had clinically significant problems externalizing (impulsivity and acting out), internalizing (anxiety, depression, withdrawn personalities), and with school readiness (delays in motor, concepts and language skills), and 35% had low IQ.
Liu, J., Bann, C., Lester, B., Tronick, E., Das, A., Lagasse, L., et al. (2010). Neonatal Neurobehavior Predicts Medical and Behavioral Outcome. Pediatrics, 125(1), e90-98. doi: 10.1542/peds.2009-0204.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/bu-nst120709.php
It seems that young children neither plan for the future nor live completely in the present — rather they call up the past as they need it. A study in which 3 ½ year-olds and 8-year-olds played a computer game that involved teaching children simple rules about two cartoon characters and their preferences for different objects has found that 8 year olds had no trouble remembering the preferences and clicking either a happy or sad face when the character had an object they liked or disliked, but 3 year olds found the task difficult. Measuring pupil dilation (a reflection of mental effort), it was found that the older children found the sequence easy because they could anticipate the answer before the object appeared, but preschoolers waited until they saw the object. The researchers suggest that rather than repeat something again and again that requires a young child to prepare for something in advance, you should try to highlight the problem that they are going to have.
Chatham, C.H., Frank, M.J. & Munakata, Y. 2009. Pupillometric and behavioral markers of a developmental shift in the temporal dynamics of cognitive control. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106, 5529-5533.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/uoca-crp032409.php
http://www.physorg.com/news157123504.html
We know that providing advance information about the goal of instruction helps people learn. Now it appears that this is true even for infants, but they need the additional prompt of the same location. The study involved infants first being shown, five times, an assistant reach for and pick up one of two plastic toys while saying "Wow!" The infants were then randomly selected to stay in the same room or go to a different one. It was found that those who stayed in the same room were more likely to show surprise when the assistant changed her mind about which toy she wanted.
Sommerville, J.A. & Crane, C.C. 2009. Ten-month-old infants use prior information to identify an actor's goal. Developmental Science, 12 (2), 314-325.
http://www.physorg.com/news151853797.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-01/uow-ido012209.php
We all know it’s easier to remember a long number (say a phone number) when it’s broken into chunks. Now a study has found that we don’t need to be taught this; it appears to come naturally to us. The study showed 14 months old children could track only three hidden objects at once, in the absence of any grouping cues, demonstrating the standard limit of working memory. However, with categorical or spatial cues, the children could remember more. For example, when four toys consisted of two groups of two familiar objects, cats and cars, or when six identical orange balls were grouped in three groups of two.
Feigenson, L. & Halberda, J. 2008. Conceptual knowledge increases infants' memory capacity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105 (29), 9926-9930.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/jhu-etg071008.php
A study of preschool children has found picture books not only encourage reading development, but also help toddlers learn about the real world. However, very young children (18 months) were much less likely to be able to imitate specific target actions on novel real-world objects when the pictures were colored-pencil drawings rather than life-like color photographs.
Simcock, G. & DeLoache, J. 2006. Get the picture? The Effects of Iconicity on Toddlers' Reenactment from Picture Books. Developmental Psychology, 42 (6)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/apa-tlc103006.php
According to conventional wisdom, babies don't begin to develop sophisticated psychological reasoning about people until they are about 4 years old. A study of 15-month-olds proves otherwise. The study used a non-verbal approach, for obvious reasons, and the researchers suggest earlier studies that found 3 year olds unable to reason about what others believe used verbal tasks that were overly complex for the young children.
Onishi, K.H. & Baillargeon, R. 2005. Do 15-Month-Old Infants Understand False Beliefs? Science, 308, 255-258.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-04/uoia-prb041405.php
An owl study points to the importance of early childhood education, by demonstrating that early learning experiences forever change the brain's structure. While some parts of the brain remain relatively flexible throughout life, other parts lose the ability to make large-scale changes in connections early in life. Those brain regions that help sense and interpret the world are most affected by early childhood experiences.
Linkenhoker, B.A., von der Ohe, C.G. & Knudsen, E.I. 2005. Anatomical traces of juvenile learning in the auditory system of adult barn owls. Nature Neuroscience, 8, 93 – 98.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-12/sumc-ell121704.php
It appears that the area of the brain thought to play a key role in encoding long-term memory matures in spurts. A new study demonstrates that a major spurt happens after a person's first year and then takes a second year to fully mature. Babies exposed to a series of actions when they were 9, 17 or 24 months old, were tested four months later. Those babies who had been 17 or 24 months old recalled the actions well, but the younger babies didn’t. The dramatic growth that occurs in the brain between 8 and 12 months may be required for long-term memory.
Liston, C. &Kagan, J. 2002. Brain development: Memory enhancement in early childhood. Nature, 419 (6910), 896.
Children's cognitive development
See separate pages for
Around age five, children begin to understand that if John is taller than Mary, and Mary is taller than Sue, then John is also taller than Sue – Transitive Inference. They also begin to understand that there are more fruit than apples in a grocery store – Class Inclusion. Now a mathematical theory explains why these two reasoning skills appear at the same time. It seems that both involve the ability to apply two lines of thinking about a problem at the same time, whereas younger children are limited to one. The theory provides a good account not only of Transitive Inference and Class Inclusion, but also five other forms of inference that are acquired around the same age: Matrix Completion, Cardinality, Card Sorting, Balance Scale, and Theory of Mind.
Phillips, S., Wilson, W. H., & Halford, G. S. (2009). What Do Transitive Inference and Class Inclusion Have in Common? Categorical (Co)Products and Cognitive Development. PLoS Comput Biol, 5(12), e1000599. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000599. Full text available at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000599
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/plos-omr120709.php
Data from six studies carried out in the US, the UK, Australia and the Netherlands, involving a total of 11,000 pairs of twins, has revealed that genes become more important for intelligence as we get older. The researchers calculated that genes accounted for some 41% of the variation in intelligence in 9 year olds, rising to 55% in 12 year olds, and 66% in 17 year olds. It was suggested that as they get older, children get better at controlling (or perhaps are allowed to have more control over) their environment, which they do in a way that accentuates their ‘natural’ abilities — bright children feed their abilities; less bright children choose activities and friends that are less challenging.
Haworth, C.M.A. et al. 2009. R Plomin The heritability of general cognitive ability increases linearly from childhood to young adulthood. Molecular Psychiatry, advance online publication 2 June 2009; doi: 10.1038/mp.2009.55
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327174.600-genes-drive-iq-more-as-kids-get-older.html
Imaging studies of the brain while it is supposedly doing nothing have identified four brain networks with varying responsibilities. The networks typically involve tight links between several brain regions that are physically distant from each other. A new study involving 210 subjects aged 7 to 31 has now found that in contrast to the adult brain, most of the tightest connections in a child's brain are between brain regions that are physically close to each other. As the child grows to adulthood, the brain switches from an organization based on local networks based on physical proximity to long-distance networks based on functionality.
Fair, D.A. et al. 2009. Functional Brain Networks Develop from a “Local to Distributed” Organization. PLoS Computational Biology, 5(5), e1000381. Full text available at http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1000381
http://www.physorg.com/news161605421.html
http://www.physorg.com/news160920910.html
http://www.livescience.com/health/090518-child-brain.html
New research suggests adults can remember more contextual details than children, and that this is related to the development of the prefrontal cortex. While in a MRI scanner, 49 volunteers aged eight to 24 were shown pictures of 250 common scenes and told they would be tested on their memory of these scenes. In both children and adults, correct recognition of a scene was associated with higher activation in several areas of the prefrontal cortex and the medial temporal lobe when they were studying the pictures. However, the older the volunteers, the more frequently their correct answers were enriched with contextual detail. These more detailed memories correlated with more intense activation in a specific region of the PFC. A number of studies have suggested that the PFC develops later than other brain regions.
The report appeared in the August 5 advance online edition of Nature Neuroscience.
http://www.physorg.com/news105549812.html
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/miot-msm080107.php
Initial data from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) MRI Study of Normal Brain Development, a large, population-based study that began in 1999 and is documenting structural brain development and behavior from birth to young adulthood, has revealed that:
For more information see http://www.brain-child.org/.
Waber, D.P. et al. 2007. The NIH MRI Study of Normal Brain Development: Performance of a Population Based Sample of Healthy Children Aged 6 to 18 Years on a Neuropsychological Battery. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 13, 1-18.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-05/chb-afg051607.php
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-05/nion-nst051507.php
http://www.physorg.com/news98692796.html
http://sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=A15FAD05-E7F2-99DF-34B5A1856E790722&chanID=sa003
How do we remember when an event has occurred? Most of the time we do it by reconstructing the event and inferring the time from details stored. Given that, it should perhaps be no surprise to learn that while children aged 4 through 13 can recall the details of an event fairly well, they are unable to extrapolate further and link those details with a specific time of year, even when it occurs around a major holiday. The finding has implications for legal testimony, where lawyers are inclined to cast doubt on memories if the child is unable to recall when the event occurred.
Friedman, W.J. & Lyon, T.D.2005. Development of Temporal-Reconstructive Abilities. Child Development, 76(6), 1202
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-11/sfri-kcr110805.php
An imaging study of 20 healthy 8- to 30-year-olds has shed new light on the development of working memory. The study found that pre-adolescent children relied most heavily on the prefrontal and parietal regions of the brain during the working memory task; adolescents used those regions plus the anterior cingulate; and in adults, a third area of the brain, the medial temporal lobe, was brought in to support the functions of the other areas. Adults performed best. The results support the view that a person's ability to have voluntary control over behavior improves with age because with development, additional brain processes are used.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-10/uopm-dow102104.php
Finding: Parents can help their child remember events that have happened to them by reminiscing with them (recalling with them events that they have shared) and encouraging them to recall details about unshared events.
Talk about past events can be classified as either reminiscing (discussingshared experiences) or recounting (discussing unshared experiences).
This study looked at reminiscing and recounting between preschoolers and their mothers. Forty children between three and five participated in the experiment. It was found that children reported more unique memory information when they were discussing unshared experiences (recounting) rather than shared. Mothers who provided morememory information during reminiscing and asked for more information during recounting had children who reported more unique information about events.
Finding: Gender differences in conversational style seem to appear at an early age. At age 8, girls' recounting of personal experiences are already more detailed and socially contexted than boys' narratives are.
This study looked at the differences between girls and boys in recounting personal experiences. The children were aged eight, and from a middle-class background. As has tended to be found with adults, it was found that the girls' narratives were longer, more coherent and more detailed than were the boys' narratives. The girls' narratives also tended to mention more people and more emotions, and to be placed in a social context.