Evaluation of children's memory processes on the California Verbal Learning Test: Consideration of fuzzy-trace theory

Research in the developmental processes that underlie children's performance on list learning tasks during the last 25 years has focused largely on their systematic reorganization of information from encoding to recall. Of central focus has been children's evolving ability to organize information according to categories, and the positive relationship between semantic clustering and recall accuracy. However, research completed by Brown et al. (1991) suggested that the relationship between clustering and accuracy is not causal. Thus, the empirical challenge became that of identifying a third variable that helps to explain this relationship.; The Optimization Model (Brainerd & Reyna, 1990A) seeks to predict and explain an unconscious memory process in which children systematically reorder learned information upon recall. Research shows that words that were not recalled on previous trials tend to be retrieved before words that were recalled on previous trials (i.e., cognitive triage). The model predicts that this pattern will increase across trials and will be stronger in older children as compared to younger children. Furthermore, cognitive triage is predicted to maximize recall, and has been found by Brainerd and his colleagues to be a stronger predictor of recall accuracy than semantic clustering and pre-experimental memory strength.; The present study aimed to extend Brainerd's work by testing the predictions of the Optimization Model on the California Verbal Learning Test - Children's Version, including 135 4{dollar}sp{lcub}rm th{rcub}{dollar} and 7{dollar}sp{lcub}rm th{rcub}{dollar} grade children. It was predicted that cognitive triage would generalize to the procedures on the CVLT-C and contribute to a better understanding of the cognitive processes that underlie memory performance and recall accuracy on the CVLT-C. In general, the predictions of the Optimization Model were not supported in the present research. Children recalled words according to on-line memory strength groupings. These groupings became more pronounced across trials, and they were positively related to recall accuracy. However, the order of the groups was not in the predicted direction, because words that were recalled on previous trials were not recalled after words that were not recalled in previous trials. Implications for future research are reviewed.