Understanding the ways children's memories differ from adults' will help practiitioners choose appropriate activities, says Penny Tassoni
Many adults at some time complain about their memories. We may forget a dentist appointment, something from a shopping list, or worse still, someone's name. Yet our memories can surprise us. We may suddenly be transported back over the years when we recognise a long-forgotten smell from our childhood or we eat something that we have not tasted since we were small.
For most of us our memories are mystifying and in many ways we take them for granted. But as early years practitioners, it is worth understanding the differences between the way adults and children use memory in the development of self-esteem.
Basis of learning
A good starting point is to understand that there is a clear link between memory and learning. If you cannot store new information in your brain, you cannot learn, as the information will keep disappearing. The link between learning and memory has yielded a new field of research and psychologists are currently working on theories of information processing. These theories look primarily at the processes that occur when information is presented to the brain. Already it is clear that children process information differently to adults.
Sorting information
While it must be stressed that research into memory and information processing is ongoing, it is generally thought that there is some sort of system at work. Put simply, the process is in three parts:
- Registration . Information is brought via the senses to the brain. At this point, some of it is registered while some is filtered out.
- Storage . After registration, information is then stored. It appears that there are at least two storage mechanisms: a short-term memory and a long- term memory.
- Retrieval . Once the information has been stored, the final part of the process is retrieval or 'remembering'.
While adults and children appear to share the same systems, it would seem that young children's storage and retrieval systems are not as sophisticated as most adults. In particular, it seems that children's ability to 'boost' their short-term memories is limited. This might account for children who seem to have been listening, but who often forget simple instructions.
Holding on
Most adults learn key strategies to boost our short-term memories. The short-term memory seems to be an intermediate store of information and it is thought that the duration of memories stored is less than 30 seconds or so.
Information that is not processed and moved along is usually lost. A key strategy that adults use to hold information is to rehearse it. We repeat instructions or telephone numbers over and over in order to hold them in our minds. Young children do not use this strategy, although if we rehearse information with them by, for example, reminding children that they will need an apron and then asking them what they will need, they will be more successful in 'holding' that information.
Encoding information
The way in which the information is encoded affects the way in which it can be later retrieved. There appear to be three key ways in which information is encoded, stored and then retrieved.
- Acoustic - information stored in a sound code, for example, nursery rhymes or sounds in the environment.
- Visual or iconic - information stored in picture form, for example, memories when you can see the scene in your mind.
- Semantic - information that is stored using abstract symbols, for example, spoken and written words.
Adults tend to store a lot of information using the semantic code - for example, words can trigger off many memories and thoughts. Young children, on the other hand, rely heavily on their visual code. This is thought to be the reason why your first memories are visual ones. As children find it hard to process information semantically, activities that are symbol-based or word-based will be difficult for children to 'hold'. This may explain why some children find it hard to sit still during story time or why they quickly become restless when activities are passive. Unfortunately, it is all too easy for adults to forget that spoken words are abstract symbols.
The ability to process information semantically seems closely tied to children's language development. Language allows us to categorise information and to store it accordingly. It is thought that most children will not be processing semantic information effectively until they are around six or seven years old.
Helping children
So how can we help children to learn and remember? First, we need to go back to the first part of the process - registration. The brain here is sifting through massive amounts of information. We are all more likely to remember things that have relevance in some way to us. If, for example, you are interested in buying a certain model of car, you will suddenly start noticing them. In terms of children, this means making sure that the activities they do are building on their experiences and that they are enjoying them.
Second, we must consider how information is being presented. Encouraging children to be active in their learning will help them to use all their senses to process the information, while activities where children are expected to listen passively will result in information 'going in one ear and out the other'.
Finally, we need to provide children with opportunities to use their memories. The use of triggers and prompts such as photographs or familiar objects can help children's recall and so help them learn to 'scan' their memories.
Penny Tassoni is an education consultant, trainer and author of childcare and education text books
