Implicit Memory in Children: Moving Beyond Developmental Invariance

Implicit memory refers to circumstances where memory influences behavior without conscious awareness. Recent advances in neuroscience support that implicit memory involves a wide range of cortical and subcortical activities and reflects the general cortical plasticity that allows for the adaption and improvement of cognitive functions through experience. This chapter reviews the development of implicit memory in repetition priming, category learning, contextual cueing, and sequence/statistical learning among preschool and school-aged children. Early research focused on whether implicit memory may be developmentally invariant. However, some contemporary studies have shifted from studying whether all aspects of implicit memory are developmentally invariant to examining factors that moderate the developmental similarities and differences in the expression of implicit memory. Additionally, research has increasingly targeted the study of implicit memory in atypical development of children with learning, intellectual, and developmental disabilities. Although there is a scarcity of research investigating the neuroscience of implicit memory in children, literature on adult implicit memory helps to inform directions for future research with children.