Abstract
Previous research findings indicating that preschool-age boys use verbal means to encode pictorial material whereas preschool-age girls do not were further investigated. Detailed examinations were made of the polygraph tracings and serial position curves of recall of younger (mean age = 50 months) and older (mean age = 66 months) boys and girls. The older boys were different than the other sex by age groups in that (1) their recall and subvocal speech scores were significantly correlated; (2) they engaged in greater amounts of raw EMG activity on both high-labial and low-labial trials; and (3) they recalled only a small per cent of the names of pictures they did not subvocalize. Analysis of the serial position curves of recall revealed a greater recency effect for older boys and a greater primary effect for older girls. These data strongly support the notion that girls as young as 5 and 6 years of age are using other than verbal means to encode information, whereas boys similar in age are highly reliant upon verbal encoding methods.
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References
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Garrity, L.I. Sex differences in the relationship of recall to subvocal speech in preschool children. Pav. J. Biol. Sci.. 14, 186–190 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03001980
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03001980