ABSTRACT
The sixteen chapters in this volume document that the field of memory development is active and still expanding. Although the bibliography comprises but a fragment of the relevant publications, it nonetheless reflects the range and variety of studies that have addressed this topic over the past 25 years. One may ask why so many developmental psychologists have concentrated their attention on describing and explaining memory performance across the life span. Marion Perl-mutter (this volume) has given several answers to this question. One reason is the obvious importance of memory to the individual, for social communication, and especially for the way individuals use and remember past experiences. More generally, memory has been a pervasive topic of study because of its role as a component of the individual cognitive functions needed to deal with the problems of everyday life, and needed to achieve life goals, goals which differ greatly among individuals and may change radically over the life course (Dixon & Hertzog, this volume).
