This Spanish language monograph is the result of the collaboration between Argentinean pediatric neuropsychologist, Ana María Soprano, and Spanish pediatric neurologist, Juan Narbona. Both authors are well known in the Spanish-speaking world for their work with children with neurological disorders. La memoria del niño (Children's Memory) was written specifically for the clinician (physician or psychologist) and the educator and provides in a concise format a review of current knowledge on human memory, its development, its pathological states in children and adolescents, and its evaluation and treatment.
The book has six chapters. In the first chapter, Ana María Soprano reviews the various models of memory systems that have been postulated with emphasis on those aspects of the study of memory about which there is general consensus. Thus, she spends some time on sensory memory and its duration, explores short-term memory and its various experimental paradigms, and introduces the reader to working memory and its models. She takes care to address the frequent confusion between working and short-term memory. Long-term memory and its different kinds are also covered. In the same chapter the author briefly addresses attention and intention and, more thoroughly, memory failures and forgetting.
The second chapter, by Juan Narbona, reviews the cellular bases of memory and the neuroanatomical and physiological aspects of short-term and working memory and long-term memory, including explicit and implicit memory. This is followed by a review of the neurobiological development of memory systems and an exploration of the dichotomous model of procedural-declarative memory.
The third chapter, by Soprano, gives a step-by-step account of what is known and generally accepted about the stages of development of the different kinds of memory from the first year of life to adolescence. A review of the methods used to investigate memory in very young children is included. There is a section on childhood amnesia and its functional components and a section that addresses cultural and social influences in the development of memory. The chapter also broaches what little is known about the development of metamemory and prospective memory. The author thoughtfully cautions on the inevitability of including not just the analysis of the various kinds of memory, but also of other aspects of cognition and social factors in the study of memory development.
Chapter four provides an account of amnesias of childhood and adolescence. Here, Narbona tells us about the general characteristics of childhood memory disorders and explains the differences between episodic memory—that tends to be affected—and semantic and procedural memory—that tend to be preserved. The author addresses the prevalence of childhood memory disorders in normal, learning disabled, and mentally deficient children. He explores in some detail memory disorders after bilateral partial hippocampal lesions and gives a thorough review of the consequences of bilateral mesiotemporal, mammillary, and thalamic lesions in childhood. A separate section addresses childhood epileptic states and temporal lobe surgery. Lastly, the author briefly discusses the possible contribution of disordered memory in language disabilities.
The last two chapters of this book are written by Soprano and address the assessment of memory and the treatment of childhood memory disorders. The author wisely cautions that the assessment of memory in children is in its infancy and that only in the past few years have the different aspects of memory been analyzed separately. She goes on to give an account of generic methods to assess the different kinds of memory (short-term, long-term, etc.) and she gives advice on signs and symptoms that warrant an evaluation of the child. She suggests a clinical examination followed by a psychometric examination, itself followed by an experimental examination (to clarify issues that may not have become evident during the two previous steps). The author goes on to give a description of tests of memory for children and adolescents available in English and in Spanish. This is followed, in the last chapter, by some considerations on whether it is possible to learn to remember and the lack of efficaciousness of early repetitive techniques as rehabilitation tools and the well-known mnemonic techniques. Model based intervention programs for children are also described. She provides a list of computer-based techniques. Unfortunately, little in the way of outcome data is presented. Outcome research is a relatively new field of investigation as is the promotion of evidence-based practice. This chapter reflects the relative lag in our knowledge.
The book is uniformly well written and easy to read. It is well-organized, comprehensive, brief and to the point. Both authors do a great job of synthesizing the pertinent international literature. There is a wealth of information on early and later seminal work in the area of human memory and on the more recent study of its role in cognitive development and its disorders. La Memoria del Niño offers the clinician a thorough and insightful review of of memory, its development, and its pathology from two vantage points: that of the neuropsychologist and that of the neurologist. The first four chapters of this volume represent an invaluable reference for neuropsychologists, neurologists, and educators in the Spanish speaking world.
This reviewer has some cautionary notes for the reader, however, about the final two chapters. The list of available memory tests is, for the most part, just a list. Many of the tests listed do not even exist in Spanish and, when they do, there is little attempt to provide guidance as to the linguistic or cultural validity of the translation or adaptation. Therefore clinicians wishing to use many of these instruments will have to do their own homework. The final chapter may be of use to clinicians struggling to find rehabilitation or intervention tools provided they are aware of the realities of current research in this area.
