(Department of Education, Aichi University of Education, Japan)

This presentation addresses the role of prior knowledge in children’s memory. Prior knowledge plays various roles in children’s memory. One of the roles of prior knowledge is that prior knowledge can generate constructive memory. Results from two studies demonstrated constructive memory in children. One study (Tajika et al., 1995, 1996) investigated 3rd graders’ to university students’ inferential memory using an implicit memory test. The results of an instrument word stem completion test in our study showed that even 3rd graders generate more instruments (e.g., “spoon”) during reading instrument-implicit sentences (e.g., “Yasuko stirred the coffee in her cup.”) than the control group. A similar study, conducted by Suzuki (1997), included a three-sentences condition (e.g., “We went to the Nagoya Dome stadium.” “The baseball player hit the ball.” “He swung fast and ran to 1st base.”), in order to create a context strongly suggesting the instrument (e.g., “with a bat”) clear. The results from their instrument word stem completion test showed that even 2nd graders generate more instruments than the control group during reading an instrument-implicit sentence which is constructed with a set of three-sentences or one-sentence. Second graders also generated as many instruments as 6th graders in the instrument word stem completion test.

Judging from the results of instrument word stem completion tests, even younger children might construct instrumental inferences during reading sentences. However, the results from cued recall tests in our two studies showed that when implicit instruments were presented as retrieval cues, they were less effective retrieval cues with younger children than with older children. Younger children recalled fewer sentences than older children. The results are discussed in terms of constructive aspects of memory in children.

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