Schooling's Influence on Memory Test Performance

Abstract

ROGOFF, BARBARA. Schooling's Influence on Memory Test Performance. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1981, 52, 260-267. The effect of schooling on memory test performance was investigated while controlling statistically for family background selection factors. 60 9-year-old Highland Mayan children whose schooling varied from kindergarten level to third grade were? given tests of scene recognition, scene reconstruction, sentence recognition, and story recall. Predictiveness of school grade for memory test performance was tested using multiple regression to control for parental schooling, Spanish fluency, occupations, wealth, and religion. School grade contributed significantly to the prediction of test performance over and above the predictiveness of the family background variables. In 3 of the 4 memory tests, inclusion of child's grade in the equations reduced the influence of family background to an insignificant level. The results demonstrate that in this sample the relationship between schooling and memory test performance is not simply due to family background selection bias. Suggestions are made that future studies investigate the mechanisms of schooling's effect, as well as the generality of schooling effects to cognitive activities occurring outside of tests.