The Onset of Working Memory in Infants

We used an optimized configuration of the delayed-response task to explore the ability of young infants to remember which of 2 locations was correct across 12 trials after a 1- to 2-sec delay. Performance improved with age, particularly after 5.5 months. These findings suggest an onset of appreciable working memory for many infants in the middle of their 6th month.

[1]  S. M. Bell THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF OBJECT AS RELATED TO INFANT-MOTHER ATTACHMENT , 1970 .

[2]  The role of familiarity and sound in the development of person and object permanence , 1994 .

[3]  J. Reznick,et al.  Measuring infant spatial working memory using a modified delayed-response procedure. , 1999, Memory.

[4]  Renee L Baillargeon,et al.  Location memory in 8-month-old infants in a non-search AB task: Further evidence , 1989 .

[5]  A. Diamond,et al.  Development of the ability to use recall to guide action, as indicated by infants' performance on AB. , 1985, Child development.

[6]  Decalage in Infants' Search for Mothers Versus Toys Demonstrated With a Delayed Response Task. , 2001, Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies.

[7]  J. Reznick,et al.  Response modality affects human infant delayed-response performance. , 1996, Child development.

[8]  D. Maurer,et al.  Face Perception During Early Infancy , 1999 .

[9]  J. Reznick,et al.  Development of visuospatial short-term memory in the second half of the 1st year. , 2004, Developmental psychology.

[10]  Renee L Baillargeon,et al.  Evidence of Location Memory in 8-Month-Old Infants in a Nonsearch AB Task. , 1988 .

[11]  A. Diamond,et al.  The performance of human infants on a measure of frontal cortex function, the delayed response task. , 1989, Developmental psychobiology.

[12]  L. Nadel,et al.  Location memory in healthy preterm and full-term infants , 1996 .

[13]  T. Ruffman,et al.  Why do infants make A not B errors in a search task, yet show memory for the location of hidden objects in a nonsearch task? , 1998, Developmental psychology.