Psychology (Functional Area: Developmental Science)

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Open Access
Adults' long term memory as a function of birth experience
(2022-12-14) Au, Kar Yin Michelle; Adler, Scott A.
The growing rate of caesarean-section births has aroused concerns as it has shown to be associated with increasing biological and neurodevelopmental risks, but whether such neurodevelopmental impacts manifest behaviorally remain questionable. With studies demonstrating an attentional disruption in c-section-delivered infants and adults, similar effects are hypothesized to filter up the cognitive processing stream to memory function. The current study, therefore, aims to examine the birth experience effect on adults’ long-term memory. Vaginal-delivered and c-section-delivered adults participated in a two-day, memory-based visual search task. Results revealed that the two birth groups exhibited similar long-term memory retention and discrimination. However, memory differences might have been limited due to testing at a single retention interval as differences might manifest over longer intervals. Nonetheless, this finding suggests a negligible birth experience impact on adult’s long-term memory. Whether birth experience affects specific memory pathways and early memory development, as well as affecting memory differentially by c-section types, are yet to be examined.