¶ … children, a boy in a grey t-shirt, sat on the blue couch staring intently at the objects on a coffee table before him. He made no motion to play with any of them of even touch them. Every once in a while he would look into the camera. When the time came for the quiz, the instructor simply asked the boy to name as many of the objects as he could. The boy remembered six of them: car, key, flower, duck, sunglasses, block, and either key or monkey (it was difficult for me to hear the last response clearly). Judging by this boy's behavior, I concluded that he was one of the children asked to memorize the objects and not to play with them.
The second of the four children, a girl in a green shirt, first played with one of the objects, a yoyo. Later she rolled up the yoyo and pushes the white toy car around the table. She looks at the other objects but does not play with any of them. The instructor covered the objects and the girl was asked to name as many as she could remember. She recalled the duck, the car, the yoyo, the flower, and the block. When the instructor prompted the girl to name any more objects, she couldn't. Because the girl actively and willingly played with the yoyo and the car, I ascertained that she had been told to play with, rather than simply memorize the objects on the table.
3. The third of the four children, an African-American boy in a green t-shirt, molded the Play Doh in his hands, only occasionally glancing at the other objects. Finally, the instructor covered all the objects and asked him to remember what they were. The boy told the instructor that he was good at memory games and then named flower, car, Play Doh, duck, and block. He could not remember any of the other objects, even when the instructor prompted him to. Because he fondled the Play Doh, I concluded that he was one of the children asked to...
The fourth child was a girl in a flower print dress. She rocked back and forth in her chair. At the commencement of the exercise, the girl points at each of the objects and counts them out loud. She also talks to herself periodically throughout the experiment and is occasionally distracted by background noises. At one point she announces that she is ready for the test, and the instructor tells her to wait a few more seconds. When the bell finally goes off, the instructor covers the toys and asks her to name them. The girl recalls the flower, car, duck, feather, a block with letters on it, green key, and sunglasses. Because the girl conscientiously counted the objects, I figured that she was one of the ones using mnemonic devices.
Conclusions
The four-six-year-old children in the video exhibited different responses to the memory exercise, but none of them remembered all twelve objects. Moreover, it is apparent which of the children were told to play with the toys and which were strictly instructed to memorize them. For example, the first child, a boy in a grey t-shirt, stares silently at the objects before him. His lack of initiative to play with the toys clearly shows that he was instructed to memorize, rather than play. Moreover, he appeared nervous knowing that he was to be tested on the objects. The fourth child, a girl wearing a flower print dress, was also told to memorize the objects, for she also sat in her chair without playing with any of the items and also pointed to each object, counting them out loud. The two other children played with at least one of the items: the girl in the green shirt played with the yoyo and car, while the boy in the green t-shirt fondled the Play Doh. Each of those children remembered five out of the twelve objects, while the other…
