Infant Memory

Types of Memory

    Implicit Memory:

        Skills, habits, conditioned responses

        Generally unconscious

        Require repetition for learning

        Not very fallible

Explicit Memory:

    Recognition, recall, naturalistic

    Typically conscious or "pre-conscious" in nature

     More fallible

    Often require no repetition

Research with Adult Amnesiacs and Degenerative Diseases

    The Case of "H.M."

    Anatomical Implications: (figure 1)

        Hippocampus (H.M.)

        Medial Thalamus (alcoholics)

        Basal Forebrain (source of acetylcholine; alzheimer’s)

        Prefrontal Cortex ( the "when and where" of memory)

Fetal Memory

    Sensitization (habituation): gradual decline in response to repetitive stimuli

        e.g, decline in startle response by 23 to 29 weeks gestation

    Classical Conditioning:

    Research on relaxation to Beethoven

    Reading Research

    Odor Research

Memory from Birth to 6 Months

    Classical Conditioning: e.g, sucking response

    Operant Condition: e.g, mobile research

    Memory for details improves over the first 6 months

Recognition and Novelty Preference

    Original Research of Fantz

    Novelty Preference Proceedure

    Habituation Procedure

    How early do infants demonstrate delayed memories?

    How long do memories last?

    How similar are adult and infant memorial processes?

Do infants forget?

Is recognition memory related to later intelligence?

Infantile Amnesia: the inability to remember events from before around 3 ½ years of age

    Two possible explanations:

        1. Memories were never stored

        2. Memories were stored but can’t be retrieved because of either

                a. cognitive differences (e.g, language, time, etc.

                b. social repression (e.g., freud