Relational memory in six-month-old infants

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Type
Thesis
Author
Shamini Sanmugam
Supervisor
Rifkin-Graboi, Anne
Abstract
Relational memory is the ability to bind experiences together and use this stored knowledge flexibly in novel scenarios. Much research has examined relational memories in toddlers, young children, adolescents, and adults. However, whether relational memory is present in infancy is debatable. Data from 113 six-month-old infants who participated in the ongoing Singapore Preconception Study of Long-Term Maternal and Child Outcomes (S-PRESTO) were used. Data from 160 six- to eight-month-old infants was included as a supplementary analysis. These data were coded for infants’ relational memory on a Relational Memory Task (RMT). This experimental design addresses criticism of past studies wherein stimuli were presented together, and retrieval occurred just after the encoding phase. The RMT was conducted in two phases, known as the encoding phase and the retrieval phase. In the encoding phase, three sets of egg and car combinations were presented to the infant. Each set was shown six times for five seconds. After which, during the retrieval phase, infants were presented with three sets of stimuli: (1) the “Match” set (i.e., familiar stimuli; same car and egg that were paired in the encoding phase), (2) the “Mismatch” set (i.e., familiar stimuli; a seen-before car and egg from different sets in the encoding phase), and (3) the “Novel” set (i.e., unfamiliar stimuli; a car and an egg that were not presented in the encoding phase). This was done to examine the looking behavior of infants towards items that were (1) paired together before, (2) not paired together before, (3) and entirely novel. The infant’s looking behavior during retrieval was coded offline from video records. The outcomes of the relational memories in the different sets (e.g., Match, Mismatch, and Novel) were explored in detail with three questions in mind: (1) Do infants show any evidence of memory? That is, will infants’ looking behaviors in the Match condition differ from those in the Novel condition? (2) Do infants show any evidence of relational memory? That is, will infants’ looking behaviors in the Mismatch condition differ from those in the Novel condition? 3) Are the infants processing information item by item? That is, will infants’ looking behaviors in the Match condition differ from those in the Mismatch condition? For question one, findings from the looking behavior tentatively suggest that six-month-olds could differentiate between the Match condition and the Novel condition. This showed the presence of basic memory in the infants. Upon Benjamini & Hochberg False Discovery Rate (FDR) application, correction results remained significant for two of the looking variables. However, when the FDR correction was applied to the bootstrapped results none of the looking variables remained significant. The six-month-olds also displayed a preference for the Novel condition compared to the Match condition. For question two, the six-month-olds did not differentiate between the Mismatch and Novel conditions across all looking behaviors. This showed no evidence for relational memory in the infants. For question three, the six-month-olds did not differentiate between the Mismatch and the Match conditions across all looking behaviors. This showed no relational memory in the infants. Overall, the results suggested that while six-month-old infants may express basic memory, they do not exhibit relational memory, per se, at least with regards to the associations between items in this task.
Date Issued
2024
Call Number
BF720.M45 Sha