“Workman made noise in my room. Me kept my hands on my ears!” A diary study of spontaneous memories in 34‐ to 36‐month‐old children

Abstract

Memories of past events often come to mind spontaneously, that is, without any preceding goal‐directed search process. Such memories (termed ‘involuntary’ in the adult literature) have been studied extensively in adults. However, little is known about how spontaneous recollections may appear in children's everyday lives. To date, only a single diary study has been conducted. We examined three‐year‐olds' (N = 51) spontaneous memories by means of parental reports in a diary study during a 2‐week period. Specifically, we investigated (a) cues triggering spontaneous recall, (b) the emotions associated, and (c) potential dominance of recent events in the memories recalled. The results revealed that the most prominent cues triggering spontaneous recall were ‘objects’ (32%) and ‘something said’ (30.3%). The valence of the memories was primarily positive, and the age of the memories displayed a clear forgetting curve. Overall, the findings largely replicate the memory constraints identified in adults' involuntary recollections.