Using Cue Words to Investigate the Distribution of Autobiographical Memories in Childhood

• Published in: Psychological science Vol. 18; no. 10; pp. 910 - 916
• Main Authors: Bauer, Patricia J., Burch, Melissa M., Scholin, Sarah E., Güler, O. Evren
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Blackwell Publishing 01.10.2007; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adults; Age; Amnesia; Autobiographical memory; Autobiography; Child; Childhood; Childhood memories; Children; Children & youth; Cues; Estimation; Female; Forgetting; Humans; Life stories; Male; Memories; Memory; Memory - physiology; Mental Recall - physiology; Narration; Narratives; Power; Power functions; Psychology; School age children; Sex Distribution; Task Performance and Analysis; Words
• ISSN: 0956-7976; 1467-9280
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01999.x

The cue-word technique is frequently used with adults to examine the distribution of autobiographical memories across the life span. Such studies demonstrate childhood amnesia: a paucity of memories of events from the first 3½ years of life, and a gradually increasing number of memories from age 3 to age 7. The pattern is remarkable in light of findings of autobiographical competence among children in the period of life eventually obscured by this amnesia. In the present study, we modified the cue-word task for use with school-age children. Seven- to 10-year-olds successfully generated and dated memories of past events. Girls provided more complete narratives than boys. Across the sample, the resulting distribution of memories was better fit by an exponential than by a power function, implying that early memories may not consolidate and instead remain vulnerable to interference. Implications for explanations of childhood amnesia are discussed.