Memory for instances and categories in children and adults

Abstract

College subjects and 7-year-olds were trained in sorting 16 words into two conceptual categories. Training consisted of either three list presentations (Experiment I) or training to solution (Experiment II). Then either immediately or after a 3 to 4 week delay subjects received a recognition test which assessed memory for the instance vs categorical properties of the task stimuli by embedding words from the original list and from the list categories with confusion items from either the same or different categories as those on the original list. The data indicated that learning and memory were controlled primarily by categorical properties of the task items in adults and by specific instance properties in children. However, there was evidence that children had learned the categorical attributes of the task and may have differed from adults chiefly in their failure to utilize these attributes to assist learning and memory performance. The age differences in learning and memory were independent of the degree of initial training.