Changes over time in declarative (episodic and semantic) memory in school-aged children

In this project, developmental changes in declarative memory from the beginning of elementary school to late adolescence are examined in a cross-sectional and longitudinal study. The longitudinal sequence involved 400 participants (half boys and half girls) from 4 age cohorts (8, 10, 12, and 14 years-old initially) who were tested twice at a 2-year interval. Our tasks included two different memory sets, for semantic memory and for episodic memory. For semantic memory, fluency and knowledge tasks were used. For episodic memory, we used action/verbal memory tasks at encoding level, and recall/recognition tasks at retrieval level. The results of the project are both theoretically and practically important. Theoretically, it is important to have a global model of memory processes among children from a developmental perspective. Practically, it is important to use effective learning and memory supports in educational systems. It will be very useful for teachers and instructors working with children to know what memory supports are generally or specifically needed in relation to various age and sex groups. Taken as a whole, our main goal was to present a modern model of declarative memory among children in different age and sex groups.