Developmental changes in the specificity of memory over the second year of life

Developmental changes in the specificity of memory were examined in five experiments with 12- to 21-month-old infants. In all experiments, infants were tested in a deferred imitation paradigm; the specificity of the cues necessary to retrieve the target memory was assessed after a delay. Changes in cues that disrupted performance at 12 months had no effect on performance at 18 months, and changes in cues that disrupted performance at 18 months had no effect on performance at 21 months. These findings indicate that one hallmark of memory development is an increase in the range of effective retrieval cues for a particular memory. We propose that this change in effective retrieval cues increases the range of situations in which early learning experiences are retrieved and expressed and may contribute to the decline of childhood amnesia during the third year of life.