Bauer P J, Hertsgaard L A, Dropik P, Daly B P
Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota 55455-0345, USA.
Memory. 1998 Mar;6(2):165-98. doi: 10.1080/741942074.
By late in the first year of life, children show temporally ordered recall of event sequences, the orders of which are constrained by enabling relations; they do not reliably recall arbitrarily ordered events. Using elicited imitation, in two experiments, we examined age- and experience-related changes in young children's recall of events, the orders of which are arbitrary. The changes were found to have implications for the efficacy of verbal reminding and to be related to developments in language. Specifically, on the basis of a single experience, 16-month-olds did not accurately recall arbitrarily ordered event sequences either immediately or after a two-week delay (Experiment 1); 22-month-olds recalled the events immediately, but not after the delay; by 28 months, children recalled the events even after the delay (Experiment 2A). This development was accompanied by changes in the ability to benefit from verbal reminders: 28-month-olds' recall was facilitated by provision of verbal reminders, whereas that of the younger children was not. Moreover, age-related changes in accurate reproduction of lengthy arbitrarily ordered event sequences were found to be related to developments in language (Experiment 2B). Critically, the limitations on 1-year-olds' performance that are overcome with age are not absolute: After three experiences, 16-month-olds accurately recalled the events after a two-week delay; their recall was facilitated by verbal reminders (Experiment 1). The implications of these findings are discussed.
到一岁末时，儿童能够对事件序列进行有时间顺序的回忆，这些序列的顺序受因果关系的限制；他们不能可靠地回忆任意排序的事件。在两项实验中，我们通过诱发模仿来研究幼儿对任意排序事件的回忆中与年龄和经验相关的变化。研究发现，这些变化对言语提示的效果有影响，并且与语言发展有关。具体而言，基于单次经历，16个月大的婴儿无论是立即回忆还是在两周后延迟回忆，都不能准确回忆任意排序的事件序列（实验1）；22个月大的婴儿能立即回忆起这些事件，但延迟后则不能；到28个月大时，儿童即使在延迟后仍能回忆起这些事件（实验2A）。这种发展伴随着从言语提示中获益能力的变化：提供言语提示有助于28个月大婴儿的回忆，而对年幼婴儿则没有帮助。此外，研究发现，在准确再现冗长的任意排序事件序列方面，与年龄相关的变化与语言发展有关（实验2B）。至关重要的是，1岁儿童随着年龄增长而克服的表现限制并非绝对：在经历三次后，16个月大的婴儿在两周延迟后能准确回忆起事件；言语提示有助于他们的回忆（实验1）。我们将讨论这些发现的意义。
