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A mechanism of perceptual analysis by which infants derive meaning from perceptual activity is described. Infants use this mechanism to redescribe perceptual information into image-schematic format. Image-schemas create conceptual structure from the spatial structure of objects and their movements, resulting in notions such as animacy, inanimacy, agency, and containment. These earliest meanings are nonpropositional, analogical representations grounded in the perceptual world of the infant. In contrast with most perceptual processing, which is not analyzed in this fashion, redescription into image-schematic format simplifies perceptual information and makes it potentially accessible for purposes of concept formation and thought. In addition to enabling preverbal thought, image-schemas provide a foundation for language acquisition by creating an interface between the continuous processes of perception and the discrete nature of language.

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Investigated whether recall of events by children under 2 years of age is similar to that of older preschoolers and adults. Experiment 1 used elicited-imitation to test 16-and 20-month-olds' immediate and delayed recall (2-week delay) of familiar and novel events. Ordered recall at immediate and delayed test was superior for familiar events and for novel events with causal relations among the elements; ordered recall of novel events lacking causal relations was significantly lower. Experiment 2 tested children's sensitivity to differences in underlying structure of novel events. Nineteen-, 25-, and 31 -month-olds organized recall around causal relations, in spite of experimental manipulations that interrupted causally connected pairs of elements. The experiments provide clear evidence that, like preschoolers and adults, children as young as 16 months include temporal order information in their representations of both familiar and novel events and that the causal structure of novel events influences their recall.

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