With development, list recall includes more chunks, not just larger ones.
The nature of the childhood development of immediate recall has been difficult to determine. There could be a developmental increase in either the number of chunks held in working memory or the use of grouping to make the most of a constant capacity. In 3 experiments with children in the early elementary school years and adults, we show that improvements in the immediate recall of word and picture lists come partly from increases in the number of chunks of items retained in memory. This finding was based on a distinction between access to a studied group of items (i.e., recall of at least 1 item from the group) and completion of the accessed group (i.e., the proportion of the items recalled from the group). Access rates increased with age, even with statistical controls for completion rates, implicating development of capacity in chunks.
Cowan
Nelson
N
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA. CowanN@missouri.edu
Hismjatullina
Anna
A
AuBuchon
Angela M
AM
Saults
J Scott
JS
Horton
Neil
N
Leadbitter
Kathy
K
Towse
John
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D014825:Vocabulary; D055815:Young Adult
Child Dev. 1966 Jun;37(2):283-99
5941895
J Mem Lang. 2006 Aug;55(2):274-289
17387377
Psychol Rev. 1956 Mar;63(2):81-97
13310704
Q J Exp Psychol A. 1995 Feb;48(1):108-24
7754077
Perception. 2004;33(2):217-36
15109163
Mem Cognit. 1976 Sep;4(5):559-72
21286982
Cogn Psychol. 2005 Mar;50(2):133-58
15680142
Psychon Bull Rev. 2004 Apr;11(2):296-301
15260196
Psychol Sci. 2005 Sep;16(9):716-23
16137258
Science. 1980 Jun 6;208(4448):1181-2
7375930
Psychol Rev. 2008 Jul;115(3):544-76
18729591
Child Dev. 1972 Jun;43(2):710-6
5034743
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2007 Apr;60(4):497-504
17455059
Can J Psychol. 1962 Jun;16:83-95
13923055
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2009 Jul;62(7):1420-9
19048451
Nature. 2006 Mar 2;440(7080):91-5
16382240
J Abnorm Psychol. 2001 Feb;110(1):40-8
11261398
Behav Brain Sci. 2001 Feb;24(1):87-114; discussion 114-85
11515286
Psychol Sci. 2006 Jan;17(1):67-73
16371146
J Exp Child Psychol. 1982 Dec;34(3):387-413
7153702
Mem Cognit. 2007 Jun;35(4):724-37
17848030
Child Dev. 1999 Sep-Oct;70(5):1082-97
10546336
Psychol Sci. 2004 Sep;15(9):634-40
15327636
Mem Cognit. 1987 Nov;15(6):511-7
3695945
Memory. 2004 Nov;12(6):732-47
15724362
Cogn Psychol. 2005 Aug;51(1):42-100
16039935
J Exp Child Psychol. 2009 Oct;104(2):252-65
19539305
Neuropsychol Rev. 1995 Sep;5(3):151-71
8653107
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2005 Nov;31(6):1235-49
16393043
J Exp Child Psychol. 1997 Oct;67(1):57-68
9344487