Long-term forgetting is independent of age in healthy children and adolescents.

Introduction: In clinical neuropsychology, the phenomenon of accelerated long-term forgetting (ALF) has advanced to be a marker for subtle but clinically relevant memory problems associated with a range of neurological conditions. The normal developmental trajectory of long-term memory, in this case, memory recall after 1 week, and the influence of cognitive variables such as intelligence have not extensively been described, which is a drawback for the use of accelerated long-term forgetting measures in pediatric neuropsychology.

Methods: In this clinical observation study, we analyzed the normal developmental trajectory of verbal memory recall after 1 week in healthy children and adolescents.