ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the difficulties of the development of organised memory. Recent experiments have shown that one can never maintain confidently that operational thinking is not available to children of a certain age. Thus if operational thinking is a necessary condition for hierarchical processes in memory, this does not mean that hierarchical processes cannot appear before a certain age. Evidence linking degree of organisation with amount recalled would support the postulation of hierarchical processes. However, once again such evidence is hard to find. The evidence that only children of what is generally considered to be a well developed operational age (CA 9-10) can recall with a moderate degree of organisation and use such organisation to increase amount recalled suggests that operational thinking is required to ensure these results. The development of organisation and its use to aid recall seems to be closely tied to overall cognitive development.
