The Effects of Mode and Rate of Presentation on Evaluative Encoding in Children's Memory

Abstract

DOUGLAS, JOAN DELAHANTY, and CORSALE, KATHLEEN. The Effects of Mode and Rate of Presentation on Evaluative Encoding in Children's Memory. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 46-50. The releasefrom-proactive-inhibition (PI) technique was used to assess the effects of mode of presentation and presentation rate on the development of children's ability to use the evaluative dimension of the Semantic Differential as an encoding device in short-term memory. In Experiment 1, second, fourth, and sixth graders were randomly assigned to either a visual or an auditory presentation of stimuli. During the first 3 trials, a significant buildup of PI occurred for all groups, and on the fourth trial a significant release from PI occurred for all shift groups in both auditory and visual presentations. In Experiment 2, second-grade children were assigned to either a shift or nonshift group and received either a 6-sec or 3-sec stimulipresentation rate. Results indicated that young children are able to encode evaluative material only at the slower 6-sec rate. Both the experimental and control subjects in the faster 3-sec conditions showed poorer recall across trials and failed to demonstrate the release effect on the fourth trial. The findings of these experiments indicate that children as young as 7 years of age are able to encode evaluative material presented in either modality. Discrepant results from previous studies are clearly a function of presentation rate.