Developmental psychology.pdf

236 Learning and Information Processing
Age (Months)
16
18
21
24
27
30
33
Passages from
Sophocles
I, II, III
IV, V, VI
VII, VIII, IX
X, XI, XII
XIII, XIV, XV
XVI, XVII, XVIII
XIX, XX, XXI
Figure 9.2
Benjamin's Schedule. Each
passage, approximately 20 lines in
length, had been read to him almost
100 times (Burtt, 1937).
Measurement of Memory
Regardless of the exact structure and function of the memory trace, some psychologists,
like Harold Burtt, prefer to study memory at the behavioral level. Rather than
attempting to locate the origins of memory, like the elusive "sources of the Nile," they
concern themselves with directly observable phenomena, the fact that people show the
effects of prior experience. For this purpose, these psychologists have developed three
methods for measuring memory: recall, recognition, and relearning.
..When Benjamin was eight and one-half years old, his father decided it was
time to measure what his son had remembered of his prior experiences. Despite his
age, Benjamin eventually had become resigned to his "Greek lesson" as he called it,
and five years earlier had listened to all 21 passages of 240 syllables read aloud .90
times each. Presumably something had happened in his nervous system during that
time, and hopefully it might now be detected (Figure 9.2).
Method of Recall The father began with the method of recall because it is the most
difficult memory task, readily replaced by easier ones if necessary. In the method of
recall, the person is simply asked to reproduce a prior experience in any convenient
manner, without significant prompting or cues. Benjamin was asked to tell what he
knew of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, but the boy had no suspicion that he had even
heard of the passages previously. He showed no memory whatsoever, which seemed
like a forlorn result in view of all the effort on the part of father and son.
Sometimes various signals or hints are permitted, and this procedure is called
cued recall. Benjamin might have been asked: "Now tell me about the words. Do you
remember any particular words or names in that story?" Sometimes called redintegration,
from the term re + integration, cued recall is used to make the task easier.
One part is recalled or a prompt is given, and then another part is recalled from this
information. Courtroom testimony typically begins with free recall, but when an impasse
is reached, cued recall is sometimes used. There is an attempt to reconstruct the
whole by using pieces. But with eight-year-old Benjamin, even cued recall was of no
help whatsoever.
Especially in cases of visual stimuli, some people give exceptionally accurate
testimony without any prompting. This phenomenon, most likely in children, is known
as eidetic imagery, meaning a memory image as clear as a photograph or hallucination
(Paine, 1980). A child with eidetic imagery sometimes describes a previously viewed
picture as if it were still present, including details not observed while studying that
picture originally (Plate 10).
When cued or free recall is used, the reproduction usually is not perfect. Errors
are introduced, and almost inevitably these involve certain predictable changes.
Some parts of the scene or story do not appear in the reproduction, and the process of
simplification has occurred. That is, details have been omitted. When other parts are
emphasized, elaboration has occurred. And if unfamiliar items are changed into more
familiar form, conventionalization is said to have taken place. Often, all of these processes
occur together (Bartlett, 1932; Figure 9.3).
Figure 9.3
Errors in Recall. The Picasso bull
was drawn from memory by several
students, after observing it for 20
seconds. Simplification occurs in the
top drawing in the omission of the
shadow on the ground, and
elaboration occurs in the shading of
the rump. Simplification and
something akin to conventionalization
are suggested in the bottom drawing
in the handling of delicate details.