Distinct environmental cues trigger spontaneous recall of past events in 3- and 4-year-old children even after long delays

Toril Jensen; Dorthe Berntsen; Osman Skjold Kingo; Peter Krøjgaard

doi:10.1111/cdev.13735

Distinct environmental cues trigger spontaneous recall of past events in 3- and 4-year-old children even after long delays

Toril Jensen, Dorthe Berntsen, Osman Skjold Kingo, Peter Krøjgaard^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences - CON AMORE

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

80 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Verbally reported long-term memory for past events typically improves with age. However, such findings are based exclusively on studies, where children are directly asked to recall. The present study showed that when 3- (n = 113, 59 girls) and 4-year-olds (n = 113, 62 girls), predominantly White, were brought back to a distinct laboratory-setting after either 1-, 4.5-, or 13-weeks, children—regardless of age and delay—spontaneously recalled the distinct event experienced at their first visit (all Cohen's ds > 1.00). Meanwhile, the oldest children outperformed the youngest when being asked directly to retrieve the event (η2p>.088). These findings suggest that spontaneous retrieval facilitated by distinct environmental cues provides a short-cut to young children's event memories.

Original language	English
Journal	Child Development
Volume	93
Issue	4
Pages (from-to)	941-955
Number of pages	15
ISSN	0009-3920
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13735
Publication status	Published - Jul 2022

Keywords

ACCOUNT
CHILDHOOD
EPISODIC MEMORY
INVOLUNTARY AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIES
PROPS
REMEMBER
TALK
VERBAL ACCESSIBILITY
VOLUNTARY
Cues
Mental Recall
Humans
Child, Preschool
Female

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title = "Distinct environmental cues trigger spontaneous recall of past events in 3- and 4-year-old children even after long delays",

abstract = "Verbally reported long-term memory for past events typically improves with age. However, such findings are based exclusively on studies, where children are directly asked to recall. The present study showed that when 3- (n = 113, 59 girls) and 4-year-olds (n = 113, 62 girls), predominantly White, were brought back to a distinct laboratory-setting after either 1-, 4.5-, or 13-weeks, children—regardless of age and delay—spontaneously recalled the distinct event experienced at their first visit (all Cohen's ds > 1.00). Meanwhile, the oldest children outperformed the youngest when being asked directly to retrieve the event (η2p>.088). These findings suggest that spontaneous retrieval facilitated by distinct environmental cues provides a short-cut to young children's event memories.",

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author = "Toril Jensen and Dorthe Berntsen and Kingo, {Osman Skjold} and Peter Kr{\o}jgaard",

year = "2022",

month = jul,

doi = "10.1111/cdev.13735",

language = "English",

volume = "93",

pages = "941--955",

journal = "Child Development",

issn = "0009-3920",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd",

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Distinct environmental cues trigger spontaneous recall of past events in 3- and 4-year-old children even after long delays. / Jensen, Toril; Berntsen, Dorthe ; Kingo, Osman Skjold et al.
In: Child Development, Vol. 93, No. 4, 07.2022, p. 941-955.

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Distinct environmental cues trigger spontaneous recall of past events in 3- and 4-year-old children even after long delays

AU - Jensen, Toril

AU - Berntsen, Dorthe

AU - Kingo, Osman Skjold

AU - Krøjgaard, Peter

PY - 2022/7

Y1 - 2022/7

N2 - Verbally reported long-term memory for past events typically improves with age. However, such findings are based exclusively on studies, where children are directly asked to recall. The present study showed that when 3- (n = 113, 59 girls) and 4-year-olds (n = 113, 62 girls), predominantly White, were brought back to a distinct laboratory-setting after either 1-, 4.5-, or 13-weeks, children—regardless of age and delay—spontaneously recalled the distinct event experienced at their first visit (all Cohen's ds > 1.00). Meanwhile, the oldest children outperformed the youngest when being asked directly to retrieve the event (η2p>.088). These findings suggest that spontaneous retrieval facilitated by distinct environmental cues provides a short-cut to young children's event memories.

AB - Verbally reported long-term memory for past events typically improves with age. However, such findings are based exclusively on studies, where children are directly asked to recall. The present study showed that when 3- (n = 113, 59 girls) and 4-year-olds (n = 113, 62 girls), predominantly White, were brought back to a distinct laboratory-setting after either 1-, 4.5-, or 13-weeks, children—regardless of age and delay—spontaneously recalled the distinct event experienced at their first visit (all Cohen's ds > 1.00). Meanwhile, the oldest children outperformed the youngest when being asked directly to retrieve the event (η2p>.088). These findings suggest that spontaneous retrieval facilitated by distinct environmental cues provides a short-cut to young children's event memories.

KW - ACCOUNT

KW - CHILDHOOD

KW - EPISODIC MEMORY

KW - INVOLUNTARY AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORIES

KW - PROPS

KW - REMEMBER

KW - TALK

KW - VERBAL ACCESSIBILITY

KW - VOLUNTARY

KW - Cues

KW - Mental Recall

KW - Humans

KW - Child, Preschool

KW - Female

U2 - 10.1111/cdev.13735

DO - 10.1111/cdev.13735

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35098530

SN - 0009-3920

VL - 93

SP - 941

EP - 955

JO - Child Development

JF - Child Development

IS - 4

ER -

Distinct environmental cues trigger spontaneous recall of past events in 3- and 4-year-old children even after long delays

Abstract

Keywords

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