Infants’ Visual Recognition Memory for a Series of Categorically Related Items

Abstract

We examined the interactions between visual recognition memory, working memory, and categorization by examining 6-month-old infants’ (N = 168) memory for individual items in a categorized list (e.g., images of dogs or cats). In Experiments 1 and 2, infants were familiarized with 6 different cats or dogs, presented one at a time on a series of 15-s familiarization trials. When the test occurred immediately after the sixth familiarization trial (Experiment 1), infants showed strong novelty preference for items presented on the fourth or fifth familiarization trial, but not for the items presented on the first three trials or on the sixth trial. When a brief (15-s) retention delay occurred between the end of the sixth trial and the test trials (Experiment 2), memory for the sixth item was enhanced, memory for the fourth item was impaired, and memory for the fifth was unchanged relative to when no retention delay was included. Experiment 3 confirmed that infants can form a memory for the first item presented. These results reveal how factors such as interference and time to consolidate influence infants’ visual recognition memory as they categorize a series of items.

Iodine supplementation of lactating women and assessment of infant visual information processing and maternal and infant thyroid function: A randomized trial

“…In this regard 43% of the infants had number of looks above the median and 35% had number of looks below the median of 6 (5, 7.7); those with few looks learned the habituation face more quickly [43]. In total (both groups combined) the mean NQ was 0.51 (0.19) which is similar with the mean novelty preference reported by Oakes and Kovack-Lesh [44] and is higher than the mean NQ reported by Kennedy and colleagues eight years earlier (before introduction of iodized salt) in infants 6–8 months age in a similar area in Ethiopia [21].…”

Human Actions Support Infant Memory

“…This type of paradigm tests nonverbal recognition memory by first familiarizing infants to an event, and then pairing information from the familiarized event with similar, but novel, information (see Pascalis & De Haan, 2003). Used extensively in the infant literature (e.g., Oakes & Kovack-Lesh, 2013;Robinson & Pascalis, 2004), the novelty-preference paradigm capitalizes on the fact that infants prefer to attend to novel stimuli (Pascalis & De Haan, 2003), a behavior only apparent if infants have adequately encoded and recognized the "old" or familiar stimuli.…”

The development of categorisation and conceptual thinking in early childhood: methods and limitations

“…On the other hand, there is evidence that children under 24 months have severe difficulties in retaining the conceptual categories learned during experimental tasks for more than a few minutes (Merriman et al, 1997 ; Rose et al, 2001 ; Sherman, 1985 ; see also Oakes & Kovack-Lesh, 2013 ). This sudden amnesia (Hayne et al, 1987 ) contrasts with what happens in adult cognition, where categories amplify action possibilities (Tulving, 1983 ).…”