New study with St Leonards School – Episodic Memory in 11-16 year olds
Why are we doing it?
We are studying episodic memory, which is the kind of memory that allows us to reflect upon events we have experienced in the past. This kind of memory is thought to develop late in childhood, no earlier than the age of 4, and deteriorate early in later life. Its deterioration is also one of the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. It has been said also to be a uniquely human ability. We, as part of Emmie’s PhD, have been investigating episodic memory in 4-7 year old children, capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees. We’ve been using a kind of test that measures to what extent multiple pieces of information can be integrated together into one coherent memory.
When we began this experiment with preschool and primary school children, we expected that their performance on the task would improve as they got older and their cognitive abilities became more developed. Interestingly, we found the opposite effect: 4-year olds were very good at the task and older children performed more poorly. Previous research in the area has hinted that there is a shift in the way in which the brain receives and processes certain kinds of memory information between the ages of 5-13, so we would like to find out if that is what is happening in our experiment by testing children aged 11-16. If we find that 11-13 year olds still perform relatively poorly at the task but 13-16 year olds show considerable improvement, it is likely that we have found the same effect.
We will begin this study with Year 9 pupils (13-14 year olds) in St Leonards School in May 2015.
Click on the link to access the online consent form for this study. Please note you require a password to access this form.
http://standrews.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dmxwr6bCtLaMJtH