Developmental origins of recoding and decoding in memory. Kibbe, M. M. & Feigenson, L. Cogn Psychol, 75:55–79, 2014. doi abstract bibtex Working memory is severely limited in both adults and children, but one way that adults can overcome this limit is through the process of recoding. Recoding happens when representations of individual items are chunked together into a higher order representation, and the chunk is assigned a label. That label can then be decoded to retrieve the individual items from long-term memory. Whereas this ability has been extensively studied in adults (as, for example, in classic studies of memory in chess), little is known about recoding's developmental origins. Here we asked whether 2- to 3-year-old children also can recode-that is, can they restructure representations of individual objects into a higher order chunk, assign this new representation a verbal label, and then later decode the label to retrieve the represented individuals from memory. In Experiments 1 and 2, we showed children identical blocks that could be connected to make tools. Children learned a novel name for a tool that could be built from two blocks, and for a tool that could be built from three blocks. Later we told children that one of the tools was hidden in a box, with no visual information provided. Children were allowed to search the box and retrieve varying numbers of blocks. Critically, the retrieved blocks were identical and unconnected, so the only way children could know whether any blocks remained was by using the verbal label to recall how many objects comprised each tool (or chunk). We found that even children who could not yet count adjusted their searching of the box depending on the label they had heard. This suggests that they had recoded representations of individual blocks into higher-order chunks, attached labels to the chunks, and then later decoded the labels to infer how many blocks were hidden. In Experiments 3 and 4 we asked whether recoding also can expand the number of individual objects children could remember, as in the classic studies with adults. We found that when no information was provided to support recoding, children showed the standard failure to remember more than three hidden objects at once. But when provided recoding information, children successfully represented up to five individual objects in the box, thereby overcoming typical working memory limits. These results are the first demonstration of recoding by young children; we close by discussing their implications for understanding the structure of memory throughout the lifespan.
@Article{Kibbe2014,
author = {Kibbe, Melissa M. and Feigenson, Lisa},
journal = {Cogn Psychol},
title = {Developmental origins of recoding and decoding in memory.},
year = {2014},
pages = {55--79},
volume = {75},
abstract = {Working memory is severely limited in both adults and children, but
one way that adults can overcome this limit is through the process
of recoding. Recoding happens when representations of individual
items are chunked together into a higher order representation, and
the chunk is assigned a label. That label can then be decoded to
retrieve the individual items from long-term memory. Whereas this
ability has been extensively studied in adults (as, for example,
in classic studies of memory in chess), little is known about recoding's
developmental origins. Here we asked whether 2- to 3-year-old children
also can recode-that is, can they restructure representations of
individual objects into a higher order chunk, assign this new representation
a verbal label, and then later decode the label to retrieve the represented
individuals from memory. In Experiments 1 and 2, we showed children
identical blocks that could be connected to make tools. Children
learned a novel name for a tool that could be built from two blocks,
and for a tool that could be built from three blocks. Later we told
children that one of the tools was hidden in a box, with no visual
information provided. Children were allowed to search the box and
retrieve varying numbers of blocks. Critically, the retrieved blocks
were identical and unconnected, so the only way children could know
whether any blocks remained was by using the verbal label to recall
how many objects comprised each tool (or chunk). We found that even
children who could not yet count adjusted their searching of the
box depending on the label they had heard. This suggests that they
had recoded representations of individual blocks into higher-order
chunks, attached labels to the chunks, and then later decoded the
labels to infer how many blocks were hidden. In Experiments 3 and
4 we asked whether recoding also can expand the number of individual
objects children could remember, as in the classic studies with adults.
We found that when no information was provided to support recoding,
children showed the standard failure to remember more than three
hidden objects at once. But when provided recoding information, children
successfully represented up to five individual objects in the box,
thereby overcoming typical working memory limits. These results are
the first demonstration of recoding by young children; we close by
discussing their implications for understanding the structure of
memory throughout the lifespan.},
doi = {10.1016/j.cogpsych.2014.08.001},
language = {eng},
medline-pst = {ppublish},
pmid = {25195153},
school = {Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles St, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. Electronic address: feigenson@jhu.edu.},
timestamp = {2015.05.17},
}
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{"_id":"xfBhjfJph8GSxQXxg","bibbaseid":"kibbe-feigenson-developmentaloriginsofrecodinganddecodinginmemory-2014","author_short":["Kibbe, M. M.","Feigenson, L."],"bibdata":{"bibtype":"article","type":"article","author":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Kibbe"],"firstnames":["Melissa","M."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Feigenson"],"firstnames":["Lisa"],"suffixes":[]}],"journal":"Cogn Psychol","title":"Developmental origins of recoding and decoding in memory.","year":"2014","pages":"55–79","volume":"75","abstract":"Working memory is severely limited in both adults and children, but one way that adults can overcome this limit is through the process of recoding. Recoding happens when representations of individual items are chunked together into a higher order representation, and the chunk is assigned a label. That label can then be decoded to retrieve the individual items from long-term memory. Whereas this ability has been extensively studied in adults (as, for example, in classic studies of memory in chess), little is known about recoding's developmental origins. Here we asked whether 2- to 3-year-old children also can recode-that is, can they restructure representations of individual objects into a higher order chunk, assign this new representation a verbal label, and then later decode the label to retrieve the represented individuals from memory. In Experiments 1 and 2, we showed children identical blocks that could be connected to make tools. Children learned a novel name for a tool that could be built from two blocks, and for a tool that could be built from three blocks. Later we told children that one of the tools was hidden in a box, with no visual information provided. Children were allowed to search the box and retrieve varying numbers of blocks. Critically, the retrieved blocks were identical and unconnected, so the only way children could know whether any blocks remained was by using the verbal label to recall how many objects comprised each tool (or chunk). We found that even children who could not yet count adjusted their searching of the box depending on the label they had heard. This suggests that they had recoded representations of individual blocks into higher-order chunks, attached labels to the chunks, and then later decoded the labels to infer how many blocks were hidden. In Experiments 3 and 4 we asked whether recoding also can expand the number of individual objects children could remember, as in the classic studies with adults. We found that when no information was provided to support recoding, children showed the standard failure to remember more than three hidden objects at once. But when provided recoding information, children successfully represented up to five individual objects in the box, thereby overcoming typical working memory limits. These results are the first demonstration of recoding by young children; we close by discussing their implications for understanding the structure of memory throughout the lifespan.","doi":"10.1016/j.cogpsych.2014.08.001","language":"eng","medline-pst":"ppublish","pmid":"25195153","school":"Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N Charles St, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. Electronic address: feigenson@jhu.edu.","timestamp":"2015.05.17","bibtex":"@Article{Kibbe2014,\n author = {Kibbe, Melissa M. and Feigenson, Lisa},\n journal = {Cogn Psychol},\n title = {Developmental origins of recoding and decoding in memory.},\n year = {2014},\n pages = {55--79},\n volume = {75},\n abstract = {Working memory is severely limited in both adults and children, but\n\tone way that adults can overcome this limit is through the process\n\tof recoding. Recoding happens when representations of individual\n\titems are chunked together into a higher order representation, and\n\tthe chunk is assigned a label. That label can then be decoded to\n\tretrieve the individual items from long-term memory. Whereas this\n\tability has been extensively studied in adults (as, for example,\n\tin classic studies of memory in chess), little is known about recoding's\n\tdevelopmental origins. Here we asked whether 2- to 3-year-old children\n\talso can recode-that is, can they restructure representations of\n\tindividual objects into a higher order chunk, assign this new representation\n\ta verbal label, and then later decode the label to retrieve the represented\n\tindividuals from memory. In Experiments 1 and 2, we showed children\n\tidentical blocks that could be connected to make tools. Children\n\tlearned a novel name for a tool that could be built from two blocks,\n\tand for a tool that could be built from three blocks. Later we told\n\tchildren that one of the tools was hidden in a box, with no visual\n\tinformation provided. Children were allowed to search the box and\n\tretrieve varying numbers of blocks. Critically, the retrieved blocks\n\twere identical and unconnected, so the only way children could know\n\twhether any blocks remained was by using the verbal label to recall\n\thow many objects comprised each tool (or chunk). We found that even\n\tchildren who could not yet count adjusted their searching of the\n\tbox depending on the label they had heard. This suggests that they\n\thad recoded representations of individual blocks into higher-order\n\tchunks, attached labels to the chunks, and then later decoded the\n\tlabels to infer how many blocks were hidden. In Experiments 3 and\n\t4 we asked whether recoding also can expand the number of individual\n\tobjects children could remember, as in the classic studies with adults.\n\tWe found that when no information was provided to support recoding,\n\tchildren showed the standard failure to remember more than three\n\thidden objects at once. But when provided recoding information, children\n\tsuccessfully represented up to five individual objects in the box,\n\tthereby overcoming typical working memory limits. 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