The child in time: the influence of parent-child discussion about a future experience on how it is remembered.
We investigated the influence of preparation provided by parents on preschoolers' recall. One day before children participated in a staged novel event, parents discussed the event with their child either with (verbal+photos) or without (verbal) photographs. Parents and children in a control condition read an unrelated story. Then 8-10 days later the children were interviewed about the event. Children in the verbal+photos condition recalled significantly more than those in the control condition. Parental preparation style (e.g., evaluations, hypothetical language) was associated with the child's contributions to the preparatory discussion, but no aspect of parent or child style or content was associated with children's verbal recall. Similarly, there were no significant associations between children's performance on a task of episodic future thinking, and their preparatory discussion or recall, although episodic future thinking was strongly associated with language ability. The potential underlying mechanisms and theoretical implications are discussed.
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Karen.Salmon@vuw.ac.nz
Karen
K
Salmon
Fern
F
Champion
Margaret-Ellen
ME
Pipe
Louise
L
Mewton
Skye
S
McDonald
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D010781:Photography; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013404:Suggestion; D013997:Time Factors; D014705:Verbal Behavior