ABSTRACT
The notion of developmental continuity encompasses two very general ideas: commonalities of biological and psychological systems across different species, and within a species, commonalities across the lifespan. Historical analyses indicate that it is quite natural for comparative psychologists to note correspondences in the structures and functions of different living systems, but these observations are usually accompanied by debates (Beer, 1980; Harlow, Gluck, & Suomi, 1972). The debates have involved intricacies of method and interpretation, issues as old as experimental psychology itself. In the present chapter I consider recent evidence of laboratory animals and preverbal infants showing patterns of memory performance typical of adults in traditional verbal learning tasks. At least three classical effects can be demonstrated when paradigms are adjusted for the learning and response capabilities of animals and children. These effects—reinstatement effects, spacing effects, and serial position effects—were apparent in the results of Ebbinghaus's (1885/1913) tests of his own memory, and all are considered to be among the empirical phenomena that must be addressed in a complete theory of human cognition. In this chapter, I suggest the affinities in reactions by individuals of different species and ages when placed in situations structured to reveal these effects are due to a common mnemonic system.
