幼児の記憶における記憶目標を有意味化する文脈の役割

抄録

This study investigated the effects of meaningful context on young children's memory performance and the development of voluntary memory. In Exp. I and II, 4- and 5-year-olds (in Exp. II 3-year-olds were added) were presented a set of items and told to remember them either in a direct lesson format (i. e., explicit memory requirement) or as part of a pretend-play involving shopping game. Older children showed higher levels of recall than younger children, and as an overall, the children remembered more in the game than lesson contexts. Moreover, the results of Exp. II showed that (a) children in pretend-play organized items based on thematic relation in a meaningful fashion,(b) especially in the case of 5-year-olds in shopping-game, the use of strategies (counting and rehearsal) were increased, and (c) the pretend-play (shopping-game) situation created a motivation for remembering or recall. These results indicated that preschool children memory performances could be facilitated by motivating contexts that provide meaningful purpose of remembering.