“What” and “where” was when? Memory for the temporal order of episodic events in children

Abstract

In the past, researchers have shown that the individual components of episodic memory (i.e "what," "where," and "when") may emerge at different points in development. Specifically, while children as young as three can accurately report the "what" and "where" of an event, they struggle to accurately report when the event occurred. One explanation for children's difficulty in reporting when an event took place is a rudimentary understanding, and ability to use, temporal terms. In the current experiment, we employed a physical timeline to aid children's reporting of the order in which a series of episodic events occurred. Overall, while 4-, 5-, and 6-year olds performed above chance, 3-year olds did not. Our findings suggest that 3-year olds' limited ability to produce temporal terms may not be the rate-limiting step preventing them from identifying when events occurred in their recent past.

Tomorrow will be different: Children’s ability to incorporate an intervening event when thinking about the future.

“…The “when” component is especially relevant to solving our task because the timing of the Garbage Man’s visit determines the correct response. Indeed, previous work suggests binding for “when” emerges later than binding for “what” and “where” (Cuevas et al, 2015; Hayne & Imuta, 2011; Martin-Ordas et al, 2017; Scarf et al, 2017). A related issue is whether children had difficulty imagining the intervening event (i.e., John’s visit).…”

Strategies for dating earliest memories

“…First, their children (even if currently young adults) are recalling memories from their very earliest years, a period when children are typically first able to demonstrate long‐term verbal recall of complex events (Bauer, 2007). At that time in their lives, they have limited knowledge of time and dating strategies (Friedman, 2005; Scarf et al, 2017). In contrast, their parents are adults and have fully developed memory systems.…”

How does episodic memory develop in adolescence?

“…Temporal memory lags behind item and spatial memory in the early years of life (e.g., Hayne and Imuta 2011 ; Scarf et al 2017 ). However, results on development trajectories after this point have been largely inconsistent.…”