Early declarative memory and self-concept

Abstract

Infantile amnesia is a major issue in memory development. For a growing body of researchers, self is probably a key-concept for this enigma. The role of the cognitive self in early declarative memory as a function of perceptual manipulation between study- and test-phase was investigated. Two recall conditions were compared: either the same color props as in the modeling phase or different color props. Twenty-four 20-month-old children were observed in a 10-min deferred imitation task with two enabling sequences. An additional control group ( N = 16) ensured that imitation scores did not rely on spontaneous production of the target behaviors at this age. Children in the experimental groups were classified as early or late recognizer depending on their success or failure to the mirror test. A significant interaction was observed between color props conditions and recognizer types: only late recognizers’ memory performance was affected by the perceptual manipulation. Results suggest that cognitive self could be one of the factors contributing to the differentiation between episodic and semantic subsystems in early declarative memory by the end of the second year.