The effect of prior practice on memory reactivation and generalization.
Three experiments examined the effect of practice on memory performance by 18-month-old infants. Infants were tested using an imitation paradigm; an adult demonstrated a series of actions with objects and infants were given the opportunity to reproduce those actions following a delay. Some infants practiced the target actions before the retention interval (practice) and some did not (no practice). In Experiment 1, a reminder treatment alleviated forgetting by infants who practiced but failed to alleviate forgetting by infants who did not practice. In Experiments 2A and 2B, infants who practiced generalized to novel test stimuli after a 24-hr delay, whereas infants without practice did not. Results suggest practice influences the accessibility and generality of infants' memories.
Hayne
Harlene
H
Psychology Department, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. hayne@psy.otago.ac.nz
Barr
Rachel
R
Herbert
Jane
J
D001288:Attention; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D002666:Psychology, Child; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012153:Retention, Psychology