3-4-year-old children's memory flexibility allows adaptation to an altered context
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Imitation provides a reliable method to investigate the developing memory functions in childhood. The present study explored whether 3-4-year-old children are able to revise their previous experiences after a 1 week delay in order to adapt to an altered context. We used a combined short-term (Session 1) and delayed (Session 2) imitation paradigm based on a previous study with 2-year-olds. The constraints (target object close/far) and relatedly the relevance of using a tool in a goal attainment task (irrelevant/relevant, respectively) changed between the sessions. We found that children in Session 1 used the tool only when it was needed (relevant/object far context). After the 1 week delay when the tool was previously irrelevant and then became relevant, children remembered the irrelevant act and applied it in the altered context. When the tool lost its relevance after 1 week, children used the tool less than before, but did not fully omit it, despite its reduced efficiency. The present data with 3-year-olds was compared to a pattern of results with 2-year-olds (from a similar previous study), that allowed to discuss possible developmental transitions in memory and imitation. We propose that the flexible restoration of a formerly irrelevant act and the maintenance of a formerly successful solution indicate flexibility of preschooler's memory when guiding imitation. This flexibility, however, interacts with children's tendency to remain faithful to strategies that were previously ostensively demonstrated to them.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e0275071 |
Journal | PLoS ONE |
Volume | 17 |
Issue number | 9 |
Number of pages | 18 |
ISSN | 1932-6203 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sep 2022 |
Bibliographical note
© 2022 Liszkai-Peres et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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