Verbal and pictorial elaboration effects on children's long-term memory for noun pairs

The effects of verbal and pictorial elaboration on children's long-term memory were assessed in 2 experiments. A total of 124 2nd graders learned a 20-pair list of common nouns to a 16/20 correct criterion by the paired-associate method, and long-term retention was assessed after 7 days. Exp I was conducted with middle-socioeconomic-status White children. Exp II used low-socioeconomic-status Mexican-American children. Results of both experiments indicate that although elaboration facilitates the initial acquisition of noun pairs, it neither helps nor hinders their long-term retention. A manipulation of labeling mode (English vs Spanish) in Exp II did not influence either rate of acquisition or forgetting. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).