Kenneth L. Hoving

Recognition reaction time and size of the memory set: A developmental study*

Kindergarten, fourth-grade, and college Ss were tested on a recognition reaction-time task with memory sets of two, three, and four items. Though overall reaction time (RT) varied with age, the slopes of the functions relating RT to size of the memory set did not differ significantly as a function of age. Within the context of a theory of recognition memory developed by Sternberg (1966), the results suggest that young children scan memory for familiar pictures as quickly as do adults.

The Relationship of Cognitive and Motor Response Inhibition to Age and IQ

Abstract The relationship of age and IQ to response inhibition in children was investigated in two experiments. Two tasks were employed: a “walk slowly” task designed to measure motor inhibition and a simple matching task designed to measure cognitive inhibition. In Experiment I, the Ss were 20 “normal” children at ages 4, 5, 6, and 7 years of age. Response inhibition was found to increase with age. In Experiment II, the Ss were 48 institutionalized retardates, half between the ages of 8 to 12 and half between the ages of 13 to 17. Half of each age group had IQs between 40 and 55, and half had IQs between 56 and 70. Motor response inhibition varied as a function of age but not IQ, while cognitive inhibition varied as a function of IQ but not age.

The Effectiveness of Reward and Punishment Contingencies on Response Inhibition.

Abstract The relative effectiveness of reward and punishment on the development of response inhibition was evaluated developmentally. Forty kindergarten and forty second-graders received response inhibition training with half of each group rewarded for inhibiting and half punished for not inhibiting. Reward involved the presentation of positive reinforcers, whereas punishment involved their removal. Punishment produced more inhibition at both age levels than did reward. Transfer of inhibition training was evaluated in two tasks. Transfer effects were observed only on one of the two tasks. Reinforcement contingencies and age did not differentially influence the magnitude of transfer.

How do children form impressions of persons? They average.

The experiment reported was concerned with impression formation in children. Twelve subjects in each of Grades K, 2, 4, and 6 rated several sets of single trait words and trait pairs. The response scale consisted of a graded series of seven schematic faces which ranged from a deep frown to a happy smile. A basic question was whether children use an orderly integration rule in forming impressions of trait pairs. The answer was clear. At all grade levels a simple averaging model adequately accounted for pair ratings. A second question concerned how children resolve semantic inconsistencies. Responses to two highly inconsistent trait pairs suggested that subjects responded in the same fashion, essentially averaging the two traits in a pair. Overall, the data strongly supported an averaging model, and indicated that impression formation of children is similar to previous results obtained from adults.

Age Related Changes in the Effectiveness of Name and Visual Codes in Recognition Memory.

Abstract In the first of three studies college, third grade, and kindergarten Ss were able to determine that two stimuli presented 700 msec apart were the same more quickly if they were visually identical than if they shared the same name. If 3000 msec elapsed between stimulus presentations third grade and college Ss responded at the same rate in making both types of matches, whereas kindergarten Ss appeared to continue to respond more quickly in making visual matches. Study II was an unsuccessful attempt to replicate the kindergarten finding. A warning signal, presented 500 msec prior to the second stimulus, reduced RTs at both interstimulus intervals, but no significant differences in making visual and name matches occurred. In Study III first-graders, responding either with or without a warning signal, were found to respond like the older Ss in Study I. The warning signal again reduced RT at both intervals. The results suggest that Ss across a wide age range are able to use the visual properties of a stimulus for only a very brief period as the basis for making matching judgments.

The effects of review on young children's memory for prose

Abstract The present study investigated the effects of review on young childrens memory for prose. Prose passages were parsed into three levels of thematic importance. Five groups (128-year-old children each) participated in three experimental sessions, with each session separated by 1 week. During the first session all subjects listened to two passages. One week later, subjects in four of the groups received differing review experiences. During the third session, delayed retention was assessed. The data are interpreted to indicate that the repetition of the original learning experience was the most effective review; however, immediate reproduction following initial exposure also significantly attenuated forgetting. All groups favored the central passage ideas in their delayed recalls, regardless of their review treatment. The potential benefits of an immediate test as a review exercise was suggested.

Are these two stimuli from the same set? Response times of children and adults with familiar and arbitrary sets ☆

Abstract When fourth-grade children and adults decide whether two stimuli are from the same or different sets, reaction time data suggest that the S s use an encoding strategy if the sets have familiar names and a search strategy if the sets are arbitrarily grouped elements. Kindergarten S s show some signs of encoding, but also exhibit behavior suggestive of deficiencies in mediation and rehearsal, and a dependence on visual cues.

Memory storage and retrieval within and across modalities in children

Abstract Twenty-four kindergarten and fourth grade children were asked to locate a display card which had been visually or verbally presented. A probe, which identified the card to be located, was presented verbally and visually equally often. The childrens ability to recall the location of an item did not differ as a function of the modality to which the material was presented. Nor was recall significantly affected when the presentation modality differed from the probe modality, suggesting that children as young as 5 can cross these sensory modalities to retrieve material with no loss in accuracy. Serial position curves suggest that the verbal and visual material is not stored in a common intersensory store. The primacy effect is found to be stronger with visually presented material and the recency effect strongest with auditorily presented material. Probe modality did not influence the serial position curves.

Short-Term Memory in Children: Keeping Track of Variables with Few or Many States.

Abstract Does ability to remember the most recent state of a variable (e.g., that dog was the last animal seen) depend on whether the variable has few or many states? When adult S s are tested in a keeping-track task, the answer to the question is negative, consistent with expectations from Millers argument that the capacity of short-term memory (STM) is better described in terms of “chunks” than in terms of “bits” of information. The present study tested the hypothesis that number of states is an important variable determining the retention of young children. The prediction follows from a consideration of the role played by rehearsal in the STM of children and adults. The obtained data are consistent with the prediction and show that retention is dependent on number of states with 4-year-old children as S s.

AGE AND SEX DIFFERENCES IN THE PERCEPTION OF AUTOKINESIS IN CHILDREN

216 boys and girls aged 7, 10 and 13 yr. reported autokinetic motion. Girls at age 7 reported less motion than boys but this difference decreased with increased age. Girls were slower to report movement than boys at age 7 and this also lessened with age. Comparison data from the literature are discussed.