Changing the way you learn

Age-related changes in encoding, retention and retrieval using studies of operant conditioning

Early Life Skills:
1. sucking & turning head = newborn
2. gross motor skills [kicking legs] = 3-6 months
3. independent motor skills [reaching] = 6-12 months
4. fine motor control [manipulate objects = toddler
Test Reactions to Memories:
1. looking at pictures
2. sucking on dummy
3. kicking legs
4. manipulating objects
What develops as memory improves?
1. Encoding: older infants learn faster i.e. less demonstration & time needed
2. Retention: older remember for longer
3. Retrieval: older infants better able to retrieve memories in different situations - generalisation
4. younger babies = cannot have different contexts e.g. if mobile has different animals, they have no idea what it is
5. older babies/people = if in the same situation remember better than if not in the same e.g. do revision in exam conditions
Visual Paired Comparison Task:
1. familiarisation (old pictures) vs habituation (getting used to it)
2. test = a familiar stimulus is paired with a novel stimulus
  1. 2 pics on screen = 1. old from habituation task 2. new
    1. if remember old pic should look at new more
High Amplitude Sucking Task:
1. operant conditioning
  1. learn the contingency between sucking behaviour and reinforcement [mothers voice]
2. sounds similar to the womb are most reinforcing
3. DeCasper & Spence, 1986 [Dr Seuss readings]
Mobile Conjugate Reinforcement:
1. operant conditioning
  1. learn contingency between kicking behaviour and reinforcement [movement in mobile]
2. test: 1. need to work out a baseline, 2. give practice time, 3. measure - without anything attached to the string, thus no reinforcement = measure if remember
3. cannot remind before hand otherwise can be retrieval error = storage is mature but recall isn't as mature
4. seem to forget the task rapidly: 2 months = 24hrs, 3 months = 1 week, 6 months = 2 weeks
Deferred Imitation: The Puppet Task:
1. 3 actions = remove mitten, shake it, replace the mitten
2. no practice or verbal cues
3. 2 groups: control = don't get a demonstration, experimental = get a demonstraion
Improvements in encoding:
1. younger infants need longer time to encode things
2. Morgan and Hayne (2006) compared memories of a 1 yr old and a 4 yr old
  1. test: visual pictures, gave an encoding time of 5, 10 or 30 secs encoding, tested memory 24hrs later and 1 week later
    1. 4yr olds gave more preference to older pics even if only saw for 5 secs
    2. longer encoding time = better retreival
memory and language development:
1. if cannot speak how r memories encoded:
  1. Encoding Specificity Hypothesis: pre-verbal memories might not be translated into a verbal memory = Magic Shrinking Machine
Magic Shrinking Machine: Simcock & Hayne 2002
1. 27, 33 & 39 months old children
2. demonstrated the actions of the machine, then tested language and knowledge at T1
3. tested 6 months & 12 months later: free recall [tell me everything you remember], direct questions [what are the names of the toys], photography recognition [1 target 3 distractors], behavioural [re-enactment], then language tested
  1. 6 months = younger infants recognition of actions is good, 12 months = older infants re-enact very well
4. language assessment: 23 target words: children didn't use any new words, only used words that were encoded, thus cannot describe old with new words
5. behavioural memories = really good, verbal = memory not as good

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Age-related changes in encoding, retention and retrieval using studies of operant conditioning

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	Created by Elizabeth.T.Hill over 10 years ago