Autobiographical Memory Development in Children: Child Auditory Comprehension & Maternal Style (2013)

Undergraduates: Claire Veazey, Hillary Langley

Faculty Advisor: Peter Ornstein
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Past research has revealed the positive impact that an elaborative maternal reminiscing style has on the development of autobiographical memory in children. The current study seeks to address the relationship that a child¿s language comprehension has with autobiographical memory and their mother¿s style of reminiscing. Using data from the Durham Child Health and Development Study, 113 children were grouped according to auditory comprehension (AC) scores at 36 months. A mother-child reminiscing task measured children¿s autobiographical memory elaborations and maternal reminiscing style at 36 and 60 mo. to assess the relationship concurrently and longitudinally. Analyses revealed that (1) child AC at 36 mo. was significantly correlated with their autobiographical memory performance and maternal style at 36 and 60 mo., and (2) autobiographical memory in children and maternal style at both time-points differed significantly as a function of the child¿s AC at 36 mo. Both concurrently and longitudinally, children with lower language comprehension were likely to have lower autobiographical memory performance and less elaborative mothers. In contrast, children with high language comprehension were likely to have higher autobiographical memory performance and mothers who exhibited a more elaborative style. These results emphasize a need to account for child individual differences in the relationship between maternal reminiscing style and autobiographical memory development over time.