Recognition Memory for Pictures in Very Young Children: Evidence from Attentional Preferences Using a Continuous Presentation Procedure

9 boys and 9 girls in each of 4 age groups (19, 25, 32, and 37 months) observed 40 different pictures which, after varying numbers of intervening stimuli, reappeared paired with novel pictures. Subjects in each of the 4 groups attended to novel pictures more than familiar pictures. Variation in the number of intervening pictures prior to recognition-test trials had relatively little effect on attentional preference for novel stimuli. The results indicate that attentional preference can be a useful index of recognition memory not only for a few stimuli but also for large numbers of stimuli presented to very young children for only brief periods of time.