Short- and Long-Term Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood

Despite early speculations that young infants are unable to form memories, since the 1950s developmental scientists have documented amazing memory abilities in infancy and explored how these abilities develop. This research on memory development in infancy and early childhood has recently moved in exciting new directions. Extensions of work on memory systems in adults and the use of behavioral and neuroscience methods to study early developing memory abilities have lead to an explosion of ideas about the neural underpinnings of memory, its development, and the mechanisms involved in these developmental changes. This book focuses on recent empirical and theoretical advances in the study of memory development in infancy and early childhood and on mechanisms of developmental change. Its chapters allow readers to compare and contrast contemporary views of memory development, and gain an understanding of what we do and do not yet know about how memory develops in early childhood.

Lisa M. Oakes is a Professor Psychology at the University of Iowa. Patricia J. Bauer is a Professor of Child Psychology, Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota.