Psychology (Functional Area: Developmental Science)
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Browsing Psychology (Functional Area: Developmental Science) by Subject "Adults"
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Item 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.Item Open Access Effects of Birth Experience on Relational Memory in Adults(2022-12-14) Ravi, Aarthi; Pathman, Thanujeni; Adler, ScottRecent evidence has emerged that being born via planned or emergency cesarean section delivery (CSD) compared to vaginal delivery (VD) not only led to slower allocation of attention in human infants and adults but also affected hippocampal regions responsible for memory in mice. This is concerning as the number of C-sections has risen in the past two decades according to the World Health Organization. Therefore, the current study investigated if a higher-order cognitive function like relational memory, is also affected by CSD and if these effects last into adulthood. Birth experience effects on item-item, item-space and item-time relational memory along with item recognition were assessed in adult participants using a task developed by Konkel et al. (2008). Results indicated that the item-item memory performance was affected by CSD with planned CSD adults showing poorer recognition compared to emergency CSD adults. No differences in memory performance were found between either of the CSD groups and the VD group in any of the relational conditions. As relational binding has implications in forming autobiographical memories and connections between our past, present and future states, healthcare professionals should discuss with expecting mothers the potential long-term effects of planned CSD on their infants’ cognitive development.