Virtual reality as an ecologically valid tool for assessing multifaceted episodic memory in children and adolescents
- 9 July 2016
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in International Journal of Behavioral Development
- Vol. 41 (2), 211-219
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025415616198
Abstract
The majority of episodic memory (EM) tests are far removed from what we experience in daily life and from the definition of this type of memory. This study examines the developmental trajectory of the main aspects of episodic memory—what, where, and when—and of feature binding in a naturalistic virtual environment. A population of 125 participants aged from 6 to 24 years was asked to navigate, by using a joystick, in a virtual urban environment composed of specific areas, and to memorize as many elements as possible (e.g., scenes, details, spatial and temporal contexts). The ability to recall factual content associated to details or spatiotemporal context increased steadily from the age of 8 to young adulthood. These results indicate main developmental differences in feature binding abilities in naturalistic events which are very sensitive to age in comparison with a standard EM assessment. Virtual reality therefore appears to be an appropriate technique to assess crucial aspects of EM development in children and adolescents and it should provide helpful tools for the detection of subtle memory deficits.Keywords
This publication has 47 references indexed in Scilit:
- Mechanisms of remembering the past and imagining the future – New data from autobiographical memory tasks in a lifespan approachConsciousness and Cognition, 2014
- The NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery: Results from a large normative developmental sample (PING).Neuropsychology, 2014
- III. NIH TOOLBOX COGNITION BATTERY (CB): MEASURING EPISODIC MEMORYMonographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 2013
- It’s all about location, location, location: Children’s memory for the “where” of personally experienced eventsJournal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2012
- Imaging brain development: The adolescent brainNeuroImage, 2012
- Virtual reality in neuroscience research and therapyNature Reviews Neuroscience, 2011
- Developmental time course of the acquisition of sequential egocentric and allocentric navigation strategiesJournal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2010
- A Virtual Reality Test Identifies the Visuospatial Strengths of Adolescents with DyslexiaCyberPsychology & Behavior, 2009
- Making Memories: A Cross-Sectional Investigation of Episodic Memory Encoding in Childhood Using fMRIDevelopmental Neuropsychology, 2006
- A Temporoparietal and Prefrontal Network for Retrieving the Spatial Context of Lifelike EventsNeuroImage, 2001