Underdeveloped recollection during adolescence: Semantic elaboration and inhibition as underlying mechanisms

Abstract

Recognition memory abilities undergo important developmental changes until adulthood, with earlier studies showing different trajectories for recollection and familiarity-based processes. However, previous work has primarily focused on childhood, and differences in memory retrieval, notably in recollection, between adolescents and adults, have been hard to confirm. To address this gap in the literature and to better characterize the development of recollection and familiarity during adolescence, we applied the process dissociation procedure to a word recognition memory task, after semantic and perceptual encoding of words, in adolescents (n = 30, 13–15 years of age) and young adults (n = 30, 20–22 years). Relative to young adults, adolescents’ lower recognition memory performance was restricted to context recollection of semantically encoded items. This effect was predicted by individual differences in inhibitory control abilities. These findings highlight the distinct developmental trajectories of familiarity and context recollection over the course of adolescence, and suggest that semantic elaboration and inhibition are two key mechanisms toward the full maturation of recollection processes.