Encoding and storage effects in 7‐year‐olds' and 10‐year‐olds' memory for faces

Abstract

In an attempt to examine children's encoding and storage of faces, two experiments are reported on temporal factors in recognition memory for unfamiliar faces by 7‐year‐old and 10‐year‐old children. In Expt 1, viewing durations of 1 and 3 seconds and delay intervals of 0 and 1 week were examined. The younger children were less accurate at immediate test: no difference between the two age groups was evident after a week's interval. Faces presented for 3 s were recognized more accurately than those shown for 1 s. Experiment 2 involved a modification in design and temporal parameters: faces were shown for either 2 or 6 s and testing followed immediately, a day later, or a week later. The performance of 7‐year‐olds was unaffected by duration of encoding or length of interval. In contrast the 10‐year‐old children performed better with 6 s compared with 2 s exposure. They also made more accurate recognition at immediate test compared with intervals of 1 day or 1 week. The results of these two experiments provide the first systematically derived data on the way children process facial information as a function of viewing duration and delay interval. Theoretical and practical implications of the observations are discussed.