Think back to your childhood and try to identify your earliest memory. How old were you? Most people are not able to recount memories for experiences prior to the age of three years, a phenomenon called infantile amnesia. The question of why infantile amnesia occurs has intrigued psychologists for decades, especially in light of ample evidence that infants and young children can display impressive memory capabilities. Many find that understanding the general nature of autobiographical memory, that is, memory for events that have occurred in one's own life, can provide some important clues to this mystery. Between ages three and four, children begin to give fairly lengthy and cohesive descriptions of events in their past. What factors are responsible for this developmental turning point?
Perhaps the explanation goes back to some ideas raised by influential Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget—namely, that children under age two years represent events in a qualitatively different form than older children do. According to this line of thought, the verbal abilities that blossom in the two year old allow events to be coded in a form radically different from the action-based codes of the infant. Verbal abilities of one year olds are, in fact, related to their memories for events one year later. When researchers had one year olds imitate an action sequence one year after they first saw it, there was correlation between the children's verbal skills at the time they first saw the event and their success on the later memory task. However, even children with low verbal skills showed evidence of remembering the event; thus, memories may be facilitated by but are not dependent on those verbal skills.
Another suggestion is that before children can talk about past events in their lives, they need to have a reasonable understanding of the self as a psychological entity. The development of an understanding of the self becomes evident between the first and second years of life and shows rapid elaboration in subsequent years. The realization that the physical self has continuity in time, according to this hypothesis, lays the foundation for the emergence of autobiographical memory.
A third possibility is that children will not be able to tell their own "life story" until they understand something about the general form stories take, that is, the structure of narratives. Knowledge about narratives arises from social interactions, particularly the storytelling that children experience from parents and the attempts parents make to talk with children about past events in their lives. When parents talk with children about "what we did today" or "last week" or "last year," they guide the children's formation of a framework for talking about the past. They also provide children with reminders about the memory and relay the message that memories are valued as part of the cultural experience. It is interesting to note that some studies show Caucasian American children have earlier childhood memories than Korean children do. Furthermore, other studies show that Caucasian American mother-child pairs talk about past events three times more often than do Korean mother-child pairs. Thus, the types of social experiences children have do factor into the development of autobiographical memories.
A final suggestion is that children must begin to develop a "theory of mind"—an awareness of the concept of mental states (feelings, desires, beliefs, and thoughts), their own and those of others—before they can talk about their own past memories. Once children become capable of answering such questions as "What does it mean to remember?" and "What does it mean to know something?" improvements in memory seem to occur.
It may be that the developments just described are intertwined with and influence one another. Talking with parents about the past may enhance the development of the self-concept, for example, as well as help the child understand what it means to "remember." No doubt the ability to talk about one's past represents memory of a different level of complexity than simple recognition or recall.
Paragraph 1: Think back to your childhood and try to identify your earliest memory. How old were you? Most people are not able to recount memories for experiences prior to the age of three years, a phenomenon called infantile amnesia. The question of why infantile amnesia occurs has intrigued psychologists for decades, especially in light of ample evidence that infants and young children can display impressive memory capabilities. Many find that understanding the general nature of autobiographical memory, that is, memory for events that have occurred in one's own life, can provide some important clues to this mystery. Between ages three and four, children begin to give fairly lengthy and cohesive descriptions of events in their past. What factors are responsible for this developmental turning point?
O surprising
O convincing
O plentiful
O questionable
O the ability to recount memories prior to three years of age seems to be connected to intelligence in adulthood
O psychologists do not understand why some people are able to recount memories from before the age of three years, while others are not able do so
O psychologists do not understand the connection between infantile amnesia and autobiographical memory
O although psychologists have evidence that infants have memory abilities, most people cannot remember life events that happened before the age of three years
O The child is able to remember past events from before the age of three years.
O The child is able to describe past events in a sufficiently lengthy and cohesive manner.
O The child is aware that he or she does not remember experiences from before the age of three years.
O The child is able to give a basic description of the nature of autobiographical memory.
Paragraph 2: Perhaps the explanation goes back to some ideas raised by influential Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget—namely, that children under age two years represent events in a qualitatively different form than older children do. According to this line of thought, the verbal abilities that blossom in the two year old allow events to be coded in a form radically different from the action-based codes of the infant. Verbal abilities of one year olds are, in fact, related to their memories for events one year later. When researchers had one year olds imitate an action sequence one year after they first saw it, there was correlation between the children's verbal skills at the time they first saw the event and their success on the later memory task. However, even children with low verbal skills showed evidence of remembering the event; thus, memories may be facilitated by but are not dependent on those verbal skills.
O To provide evidence that memories do not depend only upon verbal skills
O To challenge the idea that one year olds are too young to form memories
O To argue that the memory of one year olds depends only on action-based codes
O To suggest that Piaget later revised his findings on the correlation between memory and verbal ability
Paragraph 3: Another suggestion is that before children can talk about past events in their lives, they need to have a reasonable understanding of the self as a psychological entity. The development of an understanding of the self becomes evident between the first and second years of life and shows rapid elaboration in subsequent years. The realization that the physical self has continuity in time, according to this hypothesis, lays the foundation for the emergence of autobiographical memory.
O consistent
O sufficient
O apparent
O deep
O development
O specialization
O use
O transformation
O Autobiographical memory aids in the development of an understanding of the self.
O Children possess an understanding of the self when they can talk about past events in their lives.
O The realization that the self continues through time may aid in the onset of autobiographical memory.
O The development of autobiographical memory helps children gain an understanding of their roles in their social relationships.
Paragraph 4: A third possibility is that children will not be able to tell their own "life story" until they understand something about the general form stories take, that is, the structure of narratives. Knowledge about narratives arises from social interactions, particularly the storytelling that children experience from parents and the attempts parents make to talk with children about past events in their lives. When parents talk with children about "what we did today" or "last week" or "last year," they guide the children's formation of a framework for talking about the past. They also provide children with reminders about the memory and relay the message that memories are valued as part of the cultural experience. It is interesting to note that some studies show Caucasian American children have earlier childhood memories than Korean children do. Furthermore, other studies show that Caucasian American mother-child pairs talk about past events three times more often than do Korean mother-child pairs. Thus, the types of social experiences children have do factor into the development of autobiographical memories.
O talking with their children about past events
O telling stories to their children
O having their children repeat stories back to them
O showing their children that they think memories are important
O Autobiographical memories develop similarly across all cultures.
O Parents from different cultures tell their children different kinds of stories about the past.
O Children's pleasure in hearing stories varies from culture to culture.
O The kinds of interactions children have with their parents affect the development of autobiographical memories.
Paragraph 5: A final suggestion is that children must begin to develop a "theory of mind"—an awareness of the concept of mental states (feelings, desires, beliefs, and thoughts), their own and those of others—before they can talk about their own past memories. Once children become capable of answering such questions as "What does it mean to remember?" and "What does it mean to know something?" improvements in memory seem to occur.
O Even children who are not aware of their mental states are still able to talk about past events.
O Autobiographicat memory decreases when a chiId's feelings and mental state are upset.
O Older children who are unable to achieve awareness of mental states lack autobiographical memory.
O Children's memory of past events grows once children can answer questions about what it means to know and remember.
O the presentation of an argument followed by the evidence for and against it
O a description of a phenomenon followed by several possible theories about how it develops
O the definition of a psychological term followed by a history of its usage
O an explanation of a process followed by a discussion of its practical applications
Paragraph 6: It may be that the developments just described are intertwined with and influence one another. Talking with parents about the past may enhance the development of the self-concept, for example, as well as help the child understand what it means to "remember." No doubt the ability to talk about one's past represents memory of a different level of complexity than simple recognition or recall.
O It is unlikely that a single factor is responsible for the development of autobiographical memory.
O Jean Piaget was the first psychologist to understand the development of autobiographical memory.
O Understanding the development of autobiographical memory will help psychologists eliminate infant amnesia
O Understanding what it means to remember is the most important factor in the development of autobiographical memory.
Think back to your childhood and try to identify your earliest memory. How old were you? ■Most people are not able to recount memories for experiences prior to the age of three years, a phenomenon called infantile amnesia. ■The question of why infantile amnesia occurs has intrigued psychologists for decades, especially in light of ample evidence that infants and young children can display impressive memory capabilities. ■Many find that understanding the general nature of autobiographical memory, that is, memory for events that have occurred in one's own life, can provide some important clues to this mystery. ■Between ages three and four, children begin to give fairly lengthy and cohesive descriptions of events in their past. What factors are responsible for this developmental turning point?
It is unlikely that this memory will be from the first two years of life.
Where would the sentence best fit? Click on a square to add the sentence to the passage.
An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
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Answer Choices
O Although children are capable of simple recognition and recall very early in life, they do not develop the capacity for autobiographical memory until the age of three or four years.
O Verbal skills and familiarity with narrative structures probably aid in the construction of autobiographical memories.
O Children's earliest autobiographical memories are usually about social interactions with parents.
O Research suggests that infantile amnesia occurs in some cultures but not in others and may be linked to children's social experiences.
O The development of autobiographical memory allows children to appreciate the fact that memories are an important part of their cultural experience.
O Children who have acquired a concept of the self and of various mental states are generally able to talk about their own past memories.
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回憶你的童年并嘗試找出你最早的記憶。那時你多大？大多數(shù)人無法描述出有關(guān)三歲前經(jīng)歷的記憶，這種現(xiàn)象就叫做嬰兒期遺忘。為什么會發(fā)生嬰兒期遺忘這個問題已經(jīng)引發(fā)了心理學(xué)家們數(shù)十年的興趣，尤其是有大量的證據(jù)說明嬰幼兒表現(xiàn)出具有令人驚訝的記憶能力。不少人發(fā)現(xiàn)理解自傳式記憶，即對在某人自己的生活中發(fā)生的事件的記憶的一般特性可以為這個不解之謎提供一些重要的線索。3到4歲的兒童開始可以對自己過去經(jīng)歷過的事情給出相當(dāng)長的具有連貫性的描述。是什么因素導(dǎo)致了這個發(fā)育的轉(zhuǎn)折點。
也許對這個問題的解釋可以追溯到具有影響力的瑞士心理學(xué)家讓·皮亞杰，他認(rèn)為兩歲以下的兒童與大于兩歲的兒童回憶事件的方式有質(zhì)的不同。根據(jù)這個思路，兩歲的兒童發(fā)展出的語言能力可以使他們對事件的組織方式與嬰兒基于動作的組織方式有根本的差異。事實上，一歲兒童的語言能力與他們一年后對事件的記憶有關(guān)。當(dāng)研究人員讓一歲的兒童們在第一次見到一個動作順序后的一年模仿這個動作順序，他們能否成功完成這個記憶任務(wù)與他們第一次看到這個事件時的語言能力相關(guān)。但是，即使是語言能力很差的兒童也顯示出了記得該事件的證據(jù)，因此，語言能力可以促進記憶，但是記憶并不依賴于語言能力。
另有人提出在兒童能夠講述他們過去經(jīng)歷的事情之前，兒童需要對把自我當(dāng)做一個心理實體有合理的認(rèn)識。對自我的認(rèn)識的發(fā)展在1到2歲之前非常明顯，并在隨后的幾年中顯示出迅速地細(xì)致化。根據(jù)這個假說，身體自我在時間上的連續(xù)性是出現(xiàn)自傳式記憶的基礎(chǔ)。
第三種可能是兒童在他們理解故事發(fā)生的一般形式，即敘述的結(jié)構(gòu)以前無法描述他們自己的“生活故事”。有關(guān)敘述的知識來源于社會互動，尤其是父母給兒童講故事以及父母嘗試跟孩子聊聊孩子們過去經(jīng)歷的事情。當(dāng)父母跟孩子們說起“昨天我們做了什么”或者“上周”或者“去年”時，他們就會引導(dǎo)兒童形成講述往事的框架。他們還喚醒了孩子們的記憶，并且向孩子們傳達(dá)了記憶是文化體驗寶貴的一部分的信息。值得一提的是有些研究顯示白種美國兒童比韓國兒童的童年記憶更早。此外，其它研究顯示白種美國母親與孩子交流過往的事情的次數(shù)是韓國母親與孩子的三倍。因此，兒童具有的社會經(jīng)驗的類型是發(fā)展出自傳式記憶的一個因素。
最后一種解釋是兒童必須在他們能夠講述自己對過去的記憶前開始發(fā)展出一種“心理理論”——對他們自己或別人的心理狀態(tài)（感覺、欲望、信仰和思想）概念的認(rèn)識。一旦兒童能夠回答諸如“記得是什么意思？”以及“知道某事或某物是什么意思？”等問題的時候，這就會促進他們可能發(fā)生的記憶。
可能上面描述的各種發(fā)育之間會相互交織并且相互影響。與父母聊聊往事可以加強自我認(rèn)知的發(fā)展，舉例來說，就像幫助兒童理解什么是“記得”一樣。講述自己的往事無疑代表了比簡單的認(rèn)出或回憶更為復(fù)雜的記憶。
