Retrieval Processes in Young Children: A Study of Script-Based Searches

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Date

2003-06-27

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Abstract

Retrieval processes are studied in young children ages six and nine years old. Research has shown that very young children organize incoming information schematically in script-like structures, and that these children are capable of utilizing some type of retrieval strategy to recall list information. No research to date has investigated the processes children use to recall events from memory. This study investigated the process that children use to recall events from memory, and hypothesized that the process used at recall is based on a script search, similar to the Context-Plus-Index model posited by Reiser (1986). 96 kindergarteners and third graders participated in a '20 Questions' game in which they asked the interviewer questions to determine the five features of two strong-scripted events and two weak-scripted events. The subjects then participated in a script-generation task. Script based searches were evidenced by a correspondence between questions asked during the game task and features of scripts mentioned during the script generation task. The data revealed that kindergarteners did not use scripts to guide their retrieval, and that kindergartners did not appear to have scripts for the events chosen for this study. Third graders showed a tendency to use their scripts for retrieval, had more elaborate scripts than kindergarteners, and also had more successful retrieval searches than did kindergartners.

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Keywords

retrieval processes, memory searches

Citation

Degree

MS

Discipline

Psychology

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