Infants' recognition memory, forgetting, and savings.

In four experiments infants of 5–6 months of age were tested for recognition memory of briefly presented visual stimuli. In the first experiment infants showed relatively more looking at a novel picture when it was paired with a picture they had just studied for 10 or 20 sec. This differential response to novelty served as evidence of immediate recognition memory. In the second experiment these same 10- or 20-sec study times were used but were not sufficient to produce reliable evidence of memory over a long (48 hr) retention interval or even as short an interval as 40 sec. The third experiment demonstrated substantial delayed recognition if a brief reexposure of materials was introduced immediately prior to the recognition test. This reminder required less than the minimal study time found necessary to produce immediate recognition memory in Experiment 1. The results of the fourth experiment indicated that the savings effects that occurred in Experiment 3 were not solely due to familiarity with the testing procedures. The implications of savings effects in infants' memory are discussed.