Flexible memory retrieval in bilingual 6-month-old infants. 2014

Natalie Brito, and Rachel Barr
Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 571001, White-Gravenor Hall 306, Washington, DC, 200057. nhb3@georgetown.edu.

Memory flexibility is a hallmark of the human memory system. As indexed by generalization between perceptually dissimilar objects, memory flexibility develops gradually during infancy. A recent study has found a bilingual advantage in memory generalization at 18 months of age [Brito and Barr [2012] Developmental Science, 15, 812-816], and the present study examines when this advantage may first emerge. In the current study, bilingual 6-month-olds were more likely than monolinguals to generalize to a puppet that differed in two features (shape and color) than monolingual 6-month-olds. When challenged with a less complex change, two puppets that differed only in one feature--color, monolingual 6-month-olds were also able to generalize. These findings demonstrate early emerging differences in memory generalization in bilingual infants, and have important implications for our understanding of how early environmental variations shape the trajectory of memory development.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007223 Infant A child between 1 and 23 months of age. Infants
D008297 Male Males
D011939 Mental Recall The process whereby a representation of past experience is elicited. Recall, Mental
D002657 Child Development The continuous sequential physiological and psychological maturing of an individual from birth up to but not including ADOLESCENCE. Infant Development,Development, Child,Development, Infant
D003071 Cognition Intellectual or mental process whereby an organism obtains knowledge. Cognitive Function,Cognitions,Cognitive Functions,Function, Cognitive,Functions, Cognitive
D005260 Female Females
D005793 Generalization, Psychological The phenomenon of an organism's responding to all situations similar to one in which it has been conditioned. Generalization (Psychology),Generalization, Psychology,Generalizations (Psychology),Generalizations, Psychological,Generalizations, Psychology,Psychological Generalization,Psychological Generalizations,Psychology Generalization,Psychology Generalizations
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D019303 Multilingualism The ability to speak, read, or write several languages or many languages with some facility. Bilingualism is the most common form. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed) Bilingualism

Related Publications

Natalie Brito, and Rachel Barr
November 2016, Developmental psychobiology,
Natalie Brito, and Rachel Barr
March 2007, Developmental science,
Natalie Brito, and Rachel Barr
June 1984, Child development,
Natalie Brito, and Rachel Barr
April 2009, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America,
Natalie Brito, and Rachel Barr
February 2017, Cognitive processing,
Natalie Brito, and Rachel Barr
January 2013, Nature communications,
Natalie Brito, and Rachel Barr
July 2002, Infancy : the official journal of the International Society on Infant Studies,
Natalie Brito, and Rachel Barr
May 2019, Developmental psychology,
Natalie Brito, and Rachel Barr
August 2012, Journal of experimental child psychology,
Copied contents to your clipboard!