Episodic memory during middle childhood: What is developing?

Abstract

Whereas previous research has concentrated on the emergence of episodic memory during the early years, fewer investigations have explored the details of this development through middle and late childhood. Considerable variation in task demands and testing methodologies have rendered the trajectory of episodic memory during this period unclear, particularly with regard to which elements are in a state of change at which time. This study separately assessed memory for item, location, and temporal order, as well as integrated what–where–when (WWW) information using a WWW memory test (the Treasure Hunt task), with 84 children aged 6 to 12 years. Two versions of the task were used, varying in the degree of retrieval support while keeping encoding constant. Results show that episodic memory continued to develop across this period, with individual item, spatial, temporal, and WWW memory all improving relatively linearly with age. These improvements were underpinned by both the associative binding and strategic control processes. These findings suggest that it is not any one element of episodic memory that is driving development during this period but that all aspects are continuing to mature in parallel.