The use of themes as retrieval cues in children's memory for stories

Abstract

Developmental changes in the use of themes as retrieval cues were examined by having children and adults listen to stories containing two themes. One theme was summarized in a theme-statement prior to story presentation. After an initial recall test, either the old theme-statement was repeated or the alternate theme-statement was presented, and a second recall test was given. In Experiment 1, kindergartners demonstrated theme-switching. On the second recall test, they recalled old-theme information better than new-theme information following the old theme-statement, whereas this pattern was reversed following the new theme-statement. Limited evidence for theme switching was found for second-graders, but no evidence was found for fourth-graders. In Experiment 2, adults also failed to switch themes in both an immediate and a delayed recall condition. The results support developmental differences in the use of story themes as retrieval plans. Adults and fourth-graders but not younger children spontaneously generated thematic retrieval plans which enabled them to remember information from both themes, thus their recall was not influenced by the thematic retrieval cues.