Abstract
Event memories consist of associations between their constituent elements, leading to their holistic retrieval via the process of pattern completion. This holistic retrieval can occur, under specific conditions, when each within-event association is encoded in a separate temporal context: adults are able to integrate the information into a single coherent representation. In this study, we sought to replicate the holistic retrieval of simultaneously encoded event elements in children, and examine whether children can similarly integrate across separated encoding contexts. Children (aged 6–7 years; 9–10 years) and adults encoded two series of three-element “events” consisting of an animal, object, and location. In the simultaneous condition, they encountered all three event elements at once; in the separated condition, they encountered each pairwise association separately (animal-object, animal-location, object-location). After encoding, they were tested on the retrieval of each within-event association using a 4-alternative-forced-choice task. We inferred the presence of holistic retrieval using a measure of retrieval dependency—the statistical dependency between retrieval of within-event associations. Memory for the pairs improved across ages, but there were no developmental differences in retrieval dependency. In the simultaneous encoding condition, all three age groups showed retrieval dependency. However, counter to previous studies, retrieval dependency was not observed in any age group following separated encoding. The results from the simultaneous encoding condition support the idea that pattern completion processes are developed by early childhood. The absence of retrieval dependency in adults following separated encoding prevent conclusions regarding the developmental trajectory of mnemonic integration.
Highlights
An event memory consists of many types of information, yet its retrieval tends to be holistic in nature (Horner & Burgess, 2013; Tulving, 2002)
If pattern completion processes activate all associated event elements, it follows that memory for within-event elements should be statistically related to one another: we should be more likely to recall a within-event association if we have successfully recalled an association from the same event
Memory for the associations improved across development, with older children remembering more than younger children, and adults outperforming children despite being given shorter trial timings
Summary
An event memory consists of many types of information, yet its retrieval tends to be holistic in nature (Horner & Burgess, 2013; Tulving, 2002). Horner and Burgess (2014) observed similar within-event dependency following the separated encoding of each pairwise association, providing that all possible associations were presented This finding highlights the capacity of the adult memory system to integrate information across different temporal contexts (Schlichting & Preston, 2015). The second aim of this study was to test whether children and adults differ in their ability to form holistic event memories from separately encoded associations, as measured by retrieval dependency (as opposed to associative inference, cf Schlichting et al, 2016). We might anticipate further development between 9- to 10-year-olds and adults, this study provided an initial test of a dissociation in retrieval processes following separated and simultaneous encoding in children, despite no differences being previously observed in adults (Horner & Burgess, 2014). If such an effect is present, we predicted that 9- to 10-year-olds would show greater retrieval dependency than 6- to 7-year-olds
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