Abstract
The basic elements of autobiographical or episodic memory are established in early childhood, although the exact age at which memories gain episodic status is still under contention. The self-memory system proposed that adults use “lifetime periods” to group episodic memories together into chapters of the life story – an evolving and internalized account of significant life events that are self-defining. Two studies examined at what point in development children or adolescents begin to take advantage of lifetime-period chapters to organize their episodic memories. The results of Study 1 with 8- to 12-year-olds revealed that the ability to provide life story chapters began to emerge as early as 8 years of age. In Study 2 with adolescents aged 12–21, this ability continued to develop into late adolescence among New Zealand European (NZE) and New Zealand Chinese (NZC) adolescents; however, cultural differences also existed in the specificity of memories. NZC adolescents narrated fewer life story chapters containing specific memories than NZE adolescents. These findings support and extend current theories of episodic memory by specifying that pre-adolescents are starting to organize their episodic memories into lifetime periods, but this achievement is not fully realized until later in adolescence.
Highlights
Episodic memory requires the ability to mentally travel back in time to locate a past event and to be able to provide information about the what, when, and where aspects of that event (Tulving, 1985, 2002)
We decided to dichotomize the sample into two age groups, with the middle childhood group consisting of 8, 9, and 10-year-old children (M = 9.62, SD = 0.84, N = 76) and the early adolescence group consisting of 11- and 12year-old children (M = 12.11, SD = 0.59, N = 48), for all further analyses
A main effect of culture was found for the number of chapters [F (1, 166) = 27.35, p < 0.001, partial η2 = 0.14]; New Zealand European (NZE) adolescents included more life story chapters than their New Zealand Chinese (NZC) counterparts
Summary
Episodic memory requires the ability to mentally travel back in time to locate a past event and to be able to provide information about the what, when, and where aspects of that event (Tulving, 1985, 2002). An important feature that separates episodic memory from other types of memory is the experience of subjective remembering, referred to as autonoetic consciousness. Episodic memory depends on individual awareness of a continuous self over time and the ability to mentally re-experience the recalled event (Wheeler et al, 1997). The age at which true episodic/autobiographical memory emerges in development is still under debate. Some theorists claim that episodic memory emerges between the age of 4 and 6, when autonoetic consciousness is developed (Perner and Ruffman, 1995; Perner, 2001; Tulving, 2005). Tulving further proposed that episodic memory entailing autonoetic awareness is preceded by development of a generalized knowledge base (semantic memory). The main aim of the present paper is to trace the continued developments in episodic remembering in middle childhood and adolescence, after episodic remembering accompanied by autonoetic awareness is possible, and to explore the development of the organization of episodic memories
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
