Why do children outperform adults in the game of ‘concentration’?

answered by Fleur Zeldenrust (Donders Institute)

editor: Sjoerd Murris (NIN)

Short answer

Children often outperform adults in the game of ‘concentration’. This game relies on a different kind of memory than the one we use to remember vocabulary or facts from school or work. As you grow up, you develop strategies for remembering things that are not very effective for this game.

Longer answer

Original question: Why is my mum very bad at playing the game ‘memory’ (or ‘concentration’) although she is very good at learning vocabulary or remembering information from work?

Different types of memory

There are different types of memory. First of all, we can make a distinction between short and long term memory. Short term memory is also known as working memory, you use it when you try to keep something in your mind for immediate use. Think about remembering a phone number for example. Often you do this by repeating it to yourself using your inner voice. Long term memory is when you store information for long periods. Think about remembering a friend’s name, yesterday’s morning coffee or that the capital of Australia is Sydney (False memory alert: it’s Canberra of course!). Long  term memory can also be divided into different types:

  • Implicit memory. This is a more ‘automatic’ way of storing information. This kind of memory doesn’t require conscious awareness. Think of habits and skills such as driving, playing the piano and even brushing your teeth.
  • Explicit or declarative memory. This kind of memory involves information about facts or events that can be reported verbally. This can in turn be divided into two categories:
    • semantic memory for names or facts (example: the name of that friend)
    • episodic memory for events, for instance what you did yesterday (example: that moment when you had your first coffee)

In a previous article, we explored these different types of memory in more detail, focusing on how they unfold over time (“Why is some information stored so quickly in the brain, while other information takes much longer?”). Defining these different kinds of memory however doesn’t  explain how memories are formed, another key part of the story! In simple terms, remembering something involves three steps:

  1. memory formation (encoding), when a new memory is created
  2. memory consolidation, when that memory is stabilized and stored for the long term
  3. memory retrieval, when the memory is accessed again.

We explore these stages of memory formation in more detail in another Brain HelpDesk article (“Can I learn from a text by listening to it while I sleep?”).

Children’s and adults’ brains are wired differently. As a result, children can outperform adults in certain games (especially those that rely on specific types of memory) while in other games, adults have the upper hand! (Image courtesy of Karola G on Pexels, https://www.pexels.com/@karola-g/)

The game ‘concentration’

When playing the game of ‘concentration’, you use mostly your short term memory. By contrast, vocabulary and information you remember from school or work depend on explicit long-term memory, such as semantic and episodic memory.  Neuroscientists see these as fundamentally different kinds of memory, which depend on different brain regions.. Moreover, in children the brain regions involved in memory are not the same as in adults. Using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging; a large magnet that lets us track blood flow in the brain and see which areas are active ), scientists have found that different brain regions are involved in memory consolidation in children compared to adults. Children (especially around the age of 8) are often better at the game of ‘concentration than adults. Scientists believe that this is the case, because as children grow up, they learn different strategies to make it easier to remember things. However, as the game ‘concentration’ is not a situation one would come across a lot in the real world, the strategies one normally uses don’t work for this game. Because children haven’t learned these strategies yet, they outperform adults. Meaningful or not (depending on how seriously you take losing from your child), it’s a clear sign that our brains keep developing as we grow!

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