Visual memory in Australian Aboriginal children and children of European descent : experimental report

The aim of this research was to carry out using Aboriginal children from Alice Springs a replication with variations of a study by Kearins (1974; 1977), which reported superior visual memory skills among Aboriginal children from the Western Desert; and to explore further the implications of Kearins' results. The experimental task used by Kearins was a spatial version of Kim's game. Three working hypotheses were stated based on a genetic-ecological demand theory proposed by Kearins. The third hypothesis related Kearins' theory to the Aborigines' superior 'cognitive mapping' ability as described by Lewis (1976). Hypothesis 1: As a result of ecological demand Aboriginal children from Alice Springs (a desert habitat) will be superior to a matched sample of European children from Canberra on a visual memory task; and Aboriginal children will use different coding strategies in memorizing arrayed objects than will European children. Hypothesis 2: If Aboriginal children are superior to European children on a visual memory task where objects are arrayed on a matrix, this ability should be enhanced if the objects are arrayed on the ground. Hypothesis 3: Aborigines will also demonstrate superior performance if the visual memory task involves a mental rotation. Europeans were found to make significantly more correct replacements than Aborigines in experiment 1; otherwise, no significant difference of race were found in either experiments 1 or 2. On the basis of these results, an 'environmental experience' hypothesis (Drinkwater, 1976) was accepted in preference to Kearins' genetic-ecological demand hypothesis. In experiment 3, Europeans performed significantly better than the Aborigines. It was suggested that the experimental task did not adequately reflect the Aborigines' 'cognitive mapping' ability. In conclusion, these data support an explanation that any differences found between Europeans and Aborigines in visual memory skill will likely result from a complex interaction of factors largely of an environmental nature

Author dc:creator

• Knapp, Pamela-Anne

• Visual perception
• Cross-cultural studies
• Cognition and culture
• Aboriginal Australians
• Psychology
• Memory in children

Dc Identifier Other

991020826299707631
b21423623

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au:1885/307410