Noun Memory Procedure• Encoding in scanner

•Children generated verbs for nouns •Finger tapping as control task

• Subsequent recognition memory •2 AFC: lake-leaf camera-candle

Sentence Recognition Procedure• Encoding in scanner

• Children heard 5 simple stories, 10 sentences long • (listening to random tones as control task)

• Subsequent recognition memory• Say “Yes” or “No” if they heard the exact

sentence in the storyVerbatim: The frog was scared and hopped in a cup. Gist: The frog jumped in a cup-he was frightened.Distractor: It was a sunny day in the country-side.

Noun Recognition Results• No age differences in number of nouns

correctly recognized (older = 88%; younger = 82%).• SM Effect for Both Age Groups

• Left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45)• Left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21), but not MTL

• SM Effect for Older Children• Left cuneus (BA 19)• Left lingual/inferior occipital gyrus (BA 18)

Verb Generation &

Noun Recognition

7-8 year-olds

Verb Generation &

Noun Recognition

10-18 year-olds

Sentence Recognition Results• Older children remembered significantly

more sentences from the stories (67%) than younger children (45%, t(30)=2.16, p<.05).

• SM Effects for Both Age Groups• Posterior MTL (parahippocampal gyrus) • Left superior and middle temporal gyrus

• SM Effect for Older children• Left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 44/45)• Left hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus (BA 35)

Story Listening & Sentence

Recognition

7-8 year-olds

Story Listening & Sentence

Recognition

10-18 year-olds

Conclusions: Noun Memory

• Left PFC was broadly involved in episodic encoding of verbal memory.

• No hippocampal or parahippocampal involvement.

• Could reflect minimal MTL involvement in tasks that do not involve configural encoding.

Conclusions: Sentence Recognition• Both age groups showed a SM effect in left

posterior MTL, but only older children showed correlated activation in anterior MTL, the hippocampus proper and ventral prefrontal cortex (BA 44/45).

• Suggests brain-based age differences in children’s ability to engage in effective semantic rehearsal and configural encoding, such as using memory strategies (Bjorklund & Douglas, 1997).