ABSTRACT

It has been well documented in adults that compared to verbal learning, learning while the subject performs an action is far more effective. However, the results of previous studies involving children have not reached a consensus. The present study examined the action memory of 4- to 6-year-old children under various encoding conditions (i.e., VTs, EPTs and SPTs) using various retrieval tests (i.e., free recall, cued recall and recognition) to investigate the age-related development and enactment effect in action memory of 4- to 6-year-old children. The results demonstrated that the developmental differences in free recall memory performances under all encoding conditions across children aged 4 to 6 years reached significance. Additionally, cued recall and recognition performances under enacted-encoding conditions (both SPTs and EPTs) were better than those under verbal-encoding condition at all ages. Interestingly, the free recall performance under EPTs was superior to that under SPTs at all ages. Altogether, our findings showed that age-related development and enactment effects of action memory existed in children aged 4 to 6 years, depending on the test modalities, which require different mental resources.

摘要

与成年人的口头学习相比，在成年人中有据可查的是，受试者在执行动作时进行学习要有效得多。但是，先前有关儿童的研究结果尚未达成共识。本研究使用各种检索测试（例如，自由回忆，暗示回忆和识别）来调查4岁至6岁儿童在各种编码条件（即VT，EPT和SPT）下的动作记忆，以调查年龄-在4至6岁儿童的动作记忆中的相关发展和制定作用。结果表明，在所有编码条件下，4至6岁儿童在自由回忆记忆性能方面的发展差异达到了显着水平。此外，在所有年龄段，在成文编码条件下（SPT和EPT）提示的回忆和识别性能均优于在言语编码条件下的回忆和识别性能。有趣的是，在所有年龄段，EPT下的免费召回性能均优于SPT下的免费召回性能。总之，我们的研究结果表明，年龄依赖的发展和动作记忆的形成效应存在于4至6岁的儿童中，具体取决于测试方式，这需要不同的智力资源。