An Electrophysiological Investigation of Source Memory Development in Early Childhood

The present study examined source memory development in a sample of 4 and 6 year children. Patterns of brain electrical (EEG) activity were examined in order to provide a neural basis for the role of prefrontal cortex functioning during source monitoring. Children were taught a series of novel facts from two difference sources (either an experimenter or puppet) and their memory for both item and source information was later tested. Results demonstrated that, after controlling for language, patterns of frontal brain activity predicted 6 year item recall performance, and trends toward significance were observed for temporal brain activity predicting 6 year source recall performance. No associations between frontal or temporal EEG activity and episodic memory judgments were observed among 4-year-old children. Future investigations should examine how source memory, and on a more general level contextual memory binding, influence the development of episodic memory in early childhood.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Department dc:contributor.department

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Raj, Vinaya

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Bell, Martha Ann

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Deater-Deckard, Kirby
• Kim, Kee Jeong

• Early Childhood
• EEG
• Source Memory
• Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-05122009-131737

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/32658