Multi-trial free recall dynamics in preschool children and young adults

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explored temporal-contextual memory search by examining recall dynamics in preschool children and young adults. Participants viewed a series of pictures and were asked to recall them in any order they remembered. Participants completed five study-test cycles for four separate lists. For two of the lists, the presentation order was fixed. For the other two, stimuli were presented in a different order every time. All participants tended to initiate recall with the last item of the list. Young adults most commonly transitioned from one item to a neighbouring item in a forward direction, especially for fixed lists, indicative of temporal-contextual search. Preschool children showed a small tendency to transition to neighbouring items but not always in the forward direction. This did not improve with practice. This suggests that the mechanisms that produce temporal-contextual memory search are not fully developed in preschool children, nor do they improve substantially with practice.