Episodic memory and future thinking during early childhood: Linking the past and future

Abstract

Despite extensive examination of episodic memory and future thinking development, little is known about the concurrent emergence of these capacities during early childhood. In Experiment 1, 3-year-olds participated in an episodic memory hiding task [“what, when, where” (WWW) components] with an episodic future thinking component. In Experiment 2, a group of 4-year-olds (including children from Experiment 1) participated in the same task (different objects and locations), providing the first longitudinal investigation of episodic memory and future thinking. Although children exhibited age-related improvements in recall, recognition, and binding of the WWW episodic memory components, there were no age-related changes in episodic future thinking. At both ages, WWW episodic memory performance was higher than future thinking performance, and episodic future thinking and WWW memory components were unrelated. These findings suggest that the WWW components of episodic memory are potentially less fragile than the future components when assessed in a cognitively demanding task.

Early memories come in small packages: episodic memory in young children and adults

“…Taken together, these data add to a growing body of work showing that episodic memory emerges much earlier in development than was previously envisaged (Cuevas, Rajan, Morasch, & Bell, 2015;Hayne & Imuta, 2011). Consistent with her prior research, young children in the present study exhibited excellent nonverbal memory when they were tested after a 24 hr or a 1-year delay.…”

“…Irrespective of the delay, children described their prior experience from their own, first-person perspective, demonstrating the kind of autonoetic consciousness that is considered to be the hallmark of episodic memory. Taken together, these data add to a growing body of work showing that episodic memory emerges much earlier in development than was previously envisaged (Cuevas, Rajan, Morasch, & Bell, 2015;Hayne & Imuta, 2011).…”

It is about time: Conceptual and experimental evaluation of the temporal cognitive mechanisms in mental time travel

“…Since then, several studies have used different variants of the Spoon test to assess future thinking in children (e.g., Atance & Sommerville, 2014; Cuevas, Rajan, Morasch, & Bell, 2015; Dickerson, Ainge, & Seed, 2018; Russell, Alexis, & Clayton, 2010). Overall, all these studies typically show an age‐related improvement in the Spoon test between ages 3–5.…”

What Human Planning Can Tell Us About Animal Planning: An Empirical Case

“…Suddendorf et al (2011) adapted Tulving's idea by presenting children with a problem (e.g., locked box with no key) in room A and a set of items (including a key) in room B. Their study showed that 4 but not 3 year olds choose the correct item to take back to room A (for similar results see: Atance and Meltzoff, 2005;Russell et al, 2010;Redshaw and Suddendorf, 2013;Scarf et al, 2013;Atance and Sommerville, 2014;Atance et al, 2015;Cuevas et al, 2015;Dickerson et al, 2018). Overall, these studies typically show an age-related improvement in future thinking between ages 3 to 5.…”