The Socialization of Children's Memory (2011)

Undergraduates: Caroline Byrd, Hillary Langley

Faculty Advisor: Peter Ornstein
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Previous research indicates that memory-related language used in adult-child communicative interactions (both mother- and teacher-child) are important for the development of children’s memory. These two social contexts – mother-child conversations about jointly experienced events and teachers’ memory-relevant language in the classroom – have not yet been studied together. In the present study, mothers’ “metamemory” talk (language referencing the process of remembering) while discussing past events with their Kindergarten-aged children was significantly correlated with children’s remembering (r =.50, p < .01) as well as children’s “metamemory” talk (r = .60, p < .01). In addition to these autobiographical memory findings, mothers’ “metamemory” talk was significantly correlated with their children’s use of an organizational strategy for remembering in the context of a deliberate memory task (r = .42, p < .01). This finding suggests that maternal reminiscing context prior to schooling is associated with children’s skilled remembering. These results set the stage for explorations of the joint effects of mothers’ and teachers’ memory-relevant language on the development of children’s memory and study skills. The current study allows for an examination of the effect of a highly elaborative mother prior to school entry on children’s memory development and the ways in which home experience may interact with being in the class of either a high- or low-mnemonic teacher in Kindergarten.