ABSTRACT
This chapter explains some of the memory performances of preschool children observed in our laboratory at the University of Massachusetts. It believe that our brief overview of recognition and recall and the discussion in greater depth of recognition-recall contrasts, knowledge effects, and deliberate-automatic processing distinctions will document the emergence and important early growth of memory in the 'middle sense', which occurs in this age range. Finally, several findings point to the knowledge-dependent nature of young children's memory. Even our youngest children gave evidence of knowledge effects on their recognition, paired-associate recall, free recall, and cued recall. Although the pattern of particular relation effects was quite similar at both ages, in several of the studies one or more measures pointed to greater facilitation for the older children. Therefore, one possible contender for the locus of memory development is an automatic or spontaneously functioning knowledge system.
