Neural correlates of learning speed reveal developmental differences in memory

A great deal of research has tried to understand the nature of children’s memory representations across time—especially in regard to how young learners navigate the conflicting pressures of remembering specific details of their experiences versus learning about more general aspects of their worlds. Here, we conducted a preregistered, exploratory analysis of developmental fMRI data to ask how learning speed impacts memory formation, and probe the idea that developmental differences in the balance of specific and general memory might be partially explained by the rate at which children (N=35, ages 9-10) and adults (N=35) learn. Using a statistical learning task and a novel application of decoding with MVPA, we quantified whether each learner’s brain detected the presence of structured information early or late in learning. Adults who showed early neural sensitivity to structure formed only general memory while those who detected structure later formed both specific and general memory. In children, however, we observed a trade-off: children who showed early neural sensitivity to structure formed only specific memories while those who detected structure later formed only general memories. These data have important implications for theories of learning and memory development in many contexts.