MEMORY STRATEGY-DEVELOPMENT - LESSONS FROM LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH

Most research in memory strategy development involves cross-sectional studies, with the implicit assumption that the patterns found in these studies are an accurate reflection of intraindividual changes over ti me. In this article, we review briefly the development of rehearsal an d organizational strategies based on cross-sectional research and then review the findings from the few longitudinal studies assessing intra individual change in these strategies, focusing on results from the Mu nich Longitudinal Study (LOGIC). Although average, age-related pattern s obtained from longitudinal samples provide similar development funct ions as those obtained from cross-sectional samples, there is much gre ater individual variability in strategy acquisition observed in the lo ngitudinal data. This suggests that the canonical development patterns inferred from cross-sectional studies often obfuscate actual intraind ividual patterns. Longitudinal evidence also indicates that utilizatio n deficiencies are observed less frequently than assumed in cross-sect ional research. (C) 1997 Academic Press.