Bahrick and Pickens (1995) proposed a four-phase model of infant attention, suggesting that recent memories are expressed as a visual preference for novelty, intermediate memories as a null preference, and remote memories as a preference for familiarity. The present study tested a hypothesis generated from this model that a retrieval cue would increase memory accessibility and shift visual preferences toward greater novelty to resemble more recent memories. Results confirmed our predictions. After retention intervals associated with remote memory, previously observed familiarity preferences shifted to null preferences, whereas after a retention interval associated with intermediate memory, the previously observed null preference shifted to a novelty preference. Further, a second experiment found that increasing the exposure to the retrieval cue could shift the familiarity preference to a novelty preference. These findings support the four-phase model of infant attention and suggest that novelty, null, and familiarity preferences lie along a continuum and shift as a function of memory accessibility.

Memory for object motion in 3-month-old infants was investigated across retention intervals of 1 or 3 months in three studies using a novelty preference method. Following familiarization to an object undergoing one of two types of motion, visual preferences for the novel motion were assessed after retention intervals of 1 min, 1 day, and 1 month (Experiment 1, N = 120) and 1 min, 1 day, 2 weeks, and 1 month (Experiment 2, N = 74). Results of both studies indicated a significant preference for the novel motion at the 1-min delay, a significant preference for the familiar motion at the 1-month delay, and no preferences at the intermediate retention intervals. In Experiment 3, memory was assessed after a 3-month interval and again, a significant familiarity preference was obtained. These results demonstrate that memory for object motion lasts across retention intervals of 1 and 3 months and that novelty and familiarity preferences interact with retention time. A four-phase function relating visual preferences and retention time was proposed. Phase 1, recent memory, is characterized by a novelty preference; phase 2, intermediate memory, is a period of transition characterized by no visual preference; phase 3, remote memory, is characterized by a familiarity preference; and phase 4, inaccessible memory, is also characterized by no preference. The finding of a transition period at intermediate retention times suggests that null preferences should not necessarily be taken as evidence of forgetting. Rather, more extended retention intervals should be included to interpret null findings obtained in the novelty preference method.