New perspectives on childhood memory: introduction to the special issue

Abstract

This special issue brings together the scholarship that contributes diverse new perspectives on childhood amnesiathe scarcity of memories for very early life events. The topics of the studies reported in the special issue range from memories of infants and young children for recent and distant life events, to mother-child conversations about memories for extended lifetime periods, and to retrospective recollections of early childhood in adolescents and adults. The methodological approaches are diverse and theoretical insights rich. The findings together show that childhood amnesia is a complex and malleable phenomenon and that the waning of childhood amnesia and the development of autobiographical memory are shaped by a variety of interactive social and cognitive factors. This collective body of work will facilitate discussion and deepen our understanding of the dynamics that influence the accessibility, content, accuracy, and phenomenological qualities of memories from early childhood.

Adolescent traumatic brain injuries: Onset, mechanism and links with current academic performance and physical injuries

“…TBIs are overrepresented in the incarcerated population, which may have influenced our findings. [50,51] Lastly our analyses were not controlled for students' socioeconomic status and ethnicity which may further shed light on the reported associations. Future studies should consider measuring and adjusting the analyses for this possible source of bias.…”

Experiences of families involving a parent with progressive deafblindness

“…A strength of this study is that it used a mixed methods approach and investigated the perspectives of different family members: parents with and without USH2, and their children. Because childhood memories are vulnerable to reconstruction and errors (Wang & Gülgöz, 2019), studying the experiences of the children during their childhood can be seen as a strength. However, the abilities of children to reflect on their own situation are limited (Solberg, 2014), which needs to be taken into account when interpreting their statements.…”

Editors’ Introduction: Remembering With Others: Conversational Dynamics and Mnemonic Outcomes

“…This happens spontaneously but is largely due to the amount of support and scaffolding from adults who provide the temporal structure in narrative form (Reese, 2002). Early childhood is also when adults generally start to talk with their children about their memories (Fivush, 2011;Salmon & Reese, 2016;Wang & G€ ulg€ oz, 2019). By 30 months of age, children's linguistic contributions to conversations about the past increase significantly (Haden, Ornstein, Rudek, & Cameron, 2009).…”