title: Later maturation of the beneficial than the detrimental effect of selective memory retrieval.
abstract: In adults, selective memory retrieval can both impair and improve recall of other memories. The study reported here examined whether children also show these two faces of memory retrieval. Employing a variant of the directed-forgetting task, we asked second, fourth, and seventh graders to study a list of target and nontarget words. After study, the participants received a cue to either forget or continue remembering the list. We subsequently asked some participants to recall the nontarget words before we tested their memory for the target words; for the remaining participants, we tested memory only for the target words. Prior retrieval of nontarget words impaired retrieval of to-be-remembered target words, regardless of children's age. In contrast, prior retrieval of nontarget words improved recall of to-be-forgotten target words in seventh graders, though not in fourth and second graders. These results suggest a developmental dissociation between the two faces of memory retrieval and indicate later maturation of the beneficial effect than of the detrimental effect of selective memory retrieval.
authors.affiliation: Regensburg University.
authors.forename: Alp
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aslan
authors.forename: Karl-Heinz T
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Bäuml
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D011939:Mental Recall
keywords: cognitive development; episodic memory