Remembering out-of-context: a developmental perspective.

Contextual influences on memory retrieval are of theoretical and e~pirical
importance in infant memory research. Early in infancy, memory is strongly constrained
by contextual congruency at encoding and retrieval. Contextual constraints appear to
progressively loosen over the infancy period (Hayne, 2004), but little is known about the
nature and extent of this change.
The present studies revealed that age-related decreases in contextual constraints
on memory retrieval extend to both physical and social context, and to recall and
recognition memory (Experiments 1-4). Specifically, for 9-month-olds both recognition
and recall memory were less affected by a change of social context than for 6-month-
. olds, and for 12-month-olds, recognition memory was less influenced by a change of
global physical context than for 6-month-olds. At 12-months, memory retrieval appeared
to be particularly constrained by intrinsic contextual details, a constraint that was robust
across procedural variations that alleviate context-shift effects in other age-groups
(Experiment 5). Nonetheless, providing infants with a unique environment for learning
and retrieval helped them to retrieve memory across an intrinsic contextual change,
indicating that extrinsic context may perform a disambiguating function later in infancy
(Experiment 6).
Finally, Experiments 7 to 9 used an EEG study to explore the processes
underlying contextual influences on memory retrieval with adults. A change ofioom
selectively impaired the purported neural correlates ofrecollective-based recognition
memory, indicating that investigating the development ofrecollection in infancy may be
an important step towards understanding contextual influences on memory in
development.
Taken together, these studies show that sirililar contextual features are encoded in
memory from infancy to adulthood. Contextual details exert progressively less influence
over memory retrieval over the first year of life, likely through a combination ofboth the
maturation ofbrain regions involved in memory, and experience oflearning and
remembering in a variety of settings.