Memory

A child's intentional memory shows dramatic improvement when he can effectively use memory strategies. These deliberate tactics for remembering develop over a lengthy period that spans the elementary and middle school years. Preschool children use very simple tactics for remembering in some special task settings; for example, a four-year-old can be expected to use a marker to denote an object's hiding place in preparation for subsequently finding it. Pre-schoolers do not, however, use mental strategies and indeed do not typically differentiate memory and perception. By age seven, most children spontaneously use rehearsal to enhance short-term memory performance. Retrieval strategies (such as going sequentially through the alphabet) begin to be spontaneously used around third grade. Children's self-directed use of organization, the ability to impose a semantic structure on the to-be-remembered items to guide memory performance, emerges later in the elementary school years. For example, a fifth grader could be expected to remember what to take on a school field trip by reviewing the activities involved and packing accordingly (e.g., "things to do on the bus," "what I need for the nature walk," "things I'll need at lunch") by herself. It is unlikely, however, that a third grader would use organization as a guide without the direction of an adult. Elaboration, a highly effective strategy that involves actively creating a representation integrating new information with existing information, may not be used spontaneously by children until early adolescence. An eighth grader may remember the definition of the word "fruition" by creating an image of a ripe pear on a bough, but it is unlikely that most sixth graders would do so.

Most students do not acquire optimally effective study skills, which can be considered forms of memory strategies, until adolescence. By the later elementary school years, children allocate more study time to test items that they have previously missed on practice tests; in contrast, younger elementary school children devote comparable amounts of attention to items that they have previously gotten correct and incorrect. By high school good students can be expected to take spontaneous and effective notes and to emphasize key information in studying.

Regardless of the strategy under consideration, its use emerges initially in highly supportive task settings. At early points in the acquisition of memory strategies, children use a strategy when adults instruct them to use the strategy but they do not generate the strategies spontaneously, a limitation described as a production deficiency. Additional preparation time, the use of familiar materials, and cues that may reduce memory demands are other factors that increase the likelihood that strategies will be used. When they are fully acquired, strategies are applied spontaneously in a wide array of task settings. Metamemory, or knowledge about the operation of the memory system, contributes to the development of strategies. Metamemory involves understanding the demands of the task and the relevant characteristics of the rememberer, as well as identifying and using effective task approaches and monitoring their effectiveness. In general, the development of metamemory increases with age, corresponding to changes in actual memory performance.