The Effect of Spatial Context on Young Children's Recall

Abstract

HAZEN, NANCY L., and VOLK-HUDSON, SUSE. The Effect of Spatial Context on Young Children's Recall. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 1835-1844. 2 experiments were conducted to investigate young children's ability to use the spatial context in which objects are encountered to aid later recall of the objects themselves. In the first experiment, 3and 4-year-olds were asked to recall pictures of familiar items contained within an array of boxes. The 4-year-olds recalled more pictures when the array of boxes was left in front of them than when it was removed, but the 3-year-olds' recall was not facilitated by the presence of the spatial context. The second experiment examined whether spatial context would aid recall of the objects within it even for the youngest children when a more naturalistic and meaningful task was used. Preschool children played in a small room containing a variety of objects that they encountered during the course of pretend play with an experimenter. They left the room and returned to find it empty. The experimenter asked children to recall the missing objects while they were either inside the room (i.e., in the presence of the spatial context), or outside of the room. The objects were then and the child was asked to replace them in the room. Recall of an object's location was found to be related to recall of the object itself. Results indicated that at least in meaningful situations, the ability to use the spatial context of items to facilitate item recall is present from a very early age. Ways in which later developments in abilities to mentally represent spatial layouts might contribute to more sophisticated, strategic uses of spatial context as a mnemonic aid were also discussed.