Who Is Driving Ahead in the Memory Lane?

Overview

Objectives/Goals (1) To find out whether or not a child's memory is better and more accurate than an adult's memory. (2) To find out if adults and children remember pictures, numbers, symbols, songs, and sayings better than they remember words. (3) To find out whom adults and children think has a better memory. (4) To find out if a particular gender has a better memory. (5) To find out if the number of languages spoken has an effect on memory. Methods/Materials Randomly surveyed 50 adults and 50 children in 23 cities. Showed, sang or called out 10 items and then asked them to write these down in the order shown to them. Whoever, adults or children, remembered more items irrespective of the order in which the items were shown, would prove to have a better memory. Whoever, adults or children, remembered more items in the correct order in which the items were shown, would prove to have a more accurate memory. Materials used were survey forms, flash cards, watch, pencils and writing boards. Results (1) Children scored 459 points and adults 416 points when remembering items irrespective of order and 338 versus 330 points when recalling in order. (2) Items rememebred most by both adults and children were pictures (98%), numbers (97%), and items they were more interested in (92% of adults and 96% of children). (3) Both adults (68%) and children (86%) thought children had a better memory. (4) Average memory score was 15.50 for males and 15.38 for females. (5) Average memory scores for 1, 1.5, 2 and 3 languages spoken was 14.79, 15.50, 15.77 and 16.43. Conclusions/Discussion (1) Hypothesis proven that the memory of a child is better and more accurate than an adult's memory. (2) Adults and children remember pictures, numbers and things they are more interested in more than they remember words. (3) Majority of both adults and children thought children had a better memory. (4) Difference between average memory scores of males and females was too little to conclude that a particular gender has a better memory. (5) The greater the number of languages spoken, the better the memory.

Competition history

• CSEF 2011 Cognitive Science (Junior Division Only) · Entry J0706

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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