title: Explaining variance in long-term recall in 3- and 4-year-old children: the importance of post-encoding processes.
abstract: Long-term recall is influenced by what originally was encoded as well as by the efficacy of retrieval processes. The possible explanatory role of post-encoding processes by which initially labile memory traces are stabilized and integrated into long-term memory (i.e., consolidated) has received relatively less research attention. In the current research, we examined 3- and 4-year-old children's recall of multi-step event sequences immediately after seeing them modeled as a measure of encoding, 1 week later as a measure of the status of the memory trace post-encoding, and 1 month later as an assessment of long-term recall. We tested recall of events with three different levels of internal structure and with three different levels of support for retrieval. Measures of the post-encoding status of the memory trace explained significant variance in long-term recall when they were the sole predictors of performance, and they contributed unique variance in long-term recall even after accounting for the variance associated with encoding. The results imply that a complete explanation of forgetting during childhood must include not only roles for encoding and retrieval processes but also roles for post-encoding processes.
authors: Department of Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA. patricia.bauer@emory.edu
authors: Patricia J
authors: PJ
authors: Bauer
authors: Marina
authors: M
authors: Larkina
authors: Ayzit O
authors: AO
authors: Doydum
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D057567:Memory, Long-Term; D008606:Mental Processes; D011939:Mental Recall; D014481:United States