"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

TY - JOUR

T1 - "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

AU - Hjuler, Tirill Fjellhaugen

AU - Sonne, Trine

AU - Kingo, Osman Skjold

AU - Berntsen, Dorthe

AU - Krøjgaard, Peter

PY - 2023/9

Y1 - 2023/9

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - children

KW - cue

KW - diary study

KW - forgetting

KW - spontaneous memories

U2 - 10.1002/acp.4095

DO - 10.1002/acp.4095

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0888-4080

VL - 37

SP - 980

EP - 991

JO - Applied Cognitive Psychology

JF - Applied Cognitive Psychology

IS - 5

ER -