Distinct environmental cues trigger spontaneous recall of past events in 3‐ and 4‐year‐old children even after long delays

Abstract

Verbally reported long‐term memory for past events typically improves with age. However, such findings are based exclusively on studies, where children are directly asked to recall. The present study showed that when 3‐ (n = 113, 59 girls) and 4‐year‐olds (n = 113, 62 girls), predominantly White, were brought back to a distinct laboratory‐setting after either 1‐, 4.5‐, or 13‐weeks, children—regardless of age and delay—spontaneously recalled the distinct event experienced at their first visit (all Cohen's ds > 1.00). Meanwhile, the oldest children outperformed the youngest when being asked directly to retrieve the event (ηp2>.088). These findings suggest that spontaneous retrieval facilitated by distinct environmental cues provides a short‐cut to young children's event memories.

“Workman made noise in my room. Me kept my hands on my ears!” A diary study of spontaneous memories in 34‐ to 36‐month‐old children

“…When recalling previously experienced events spontaneously, 35‐month‐olds and 46‐month‐olds performed at the same level. In contrast, the 46‐month‐olds systematically outperformed the 35‐month‐olds when directly asked to recall information about the same event (Jensen et al, 2022; Krøjgaard et al, 2017; Sonne et al, 2020, 2021; see also Caza & Atance, 2019; Martin‐Ordas et al, 2017). Applying the same experimental paradigm, Hjuler et al (2021) found that salient ‘objects’ present in the lab (two unique and distinct boxes) seemed to be the main triggers of spontaneous recall of the past experienced event.…”

“…Using an experimental paradigm, in which children were brought back to a highly distinct setting, where they previously had experienced an engaging event, Krøjgaard et al (2017) succeeded inducing spontaneous memories in 35‐ and 46‐month‐old children. Importantly, studies based on this paradigm have highlighted the relevance of environmental cues in children's spontaneous recall (Hjuler et al, 2021; Jensen et al, 2022; Krøjgaard et al, 2017; Sonne et al, 2019, 2021, 2023; for recent review, see Krøjgaard et al, 2022). For instance, by means of looking‐time analyses, Hjuler et al (2021) showed that the specific box containing props from an experienced event appeared to serve as a memory cue for children who had spontaneous recollections at test.…”

“…Using an experimental paradigm, in which children were brought back to a highly distinct setting, where they previously had experienced an engaging event, Krøjgaard et al (2017) succeeded inducing spontaneous memories in 35-and 46-month-old children. Importantly, studies based on this paradigm have highlighted the relevance of environmental cues in children's spontaneous recall (Hjuler et al, 2021;Jensen et al, 2022;Krøjgaard et al, 2017;Sonne et al, 2019Sonne et al, , 2021Sonne et al, , 2023 for recent review, see Krøjgaard et al, 2022).…”