Neural Bases of Memory Development: Insights from Neuropsychological Studies in Primates

Abstract

Despite considerable information on the capacity of infants to learn and remember under a variety of conditions, little is known about the neural basis of memory processes early in life. This chapter reviews studies in nonhuman primates demonstrating that memory comprises multiple systems that are subserved by different neural circuits developing at different time points in early infancy. The procedural memory system mediated by the striatum and cerebellum is present at birth and reaches functional maturity in the first postnatal months in monkeys. In contrast, the declarative memory system, mediated by the hippocampal formation, and the working memory system, mediated by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, have a more protracted development, reaching functional maturity around one year of age for the former and three years of age for the latter. Given the many similarities in the developmental time course of memory processes and neural systems in humans and monkeys, the experimental findings have important implication for our understanding of the development of memory functions and their neural substrates in humans.