DO, SHOW, AND TELL - CHILDRENS EVENT MEMORIES ACQUIRED THROUGH DIRECTEXPERIENCE, OBSERVATION, AND STORIES

To investigate how source of event information influences children's e vent representations, 5- and 6-year-old children were exposed to a nov el event through direct experience, observation, or a story. 2 of the 4 scenes comprising the event contained actions that were logically or ganized, and the remaining 2 scenes contained actions that were arbitr ary in their organization. Children received either 1 or 3 exposures t o the event. For children receiving multiple exposures, 2 scenes conta ined actions that varied across exposures. A few days following their last exposure, children were asked to verbally recall and reenact the event. Reports were generally more complete, organized, and accurate w hen the event was directly experienced compared to when it was observe d or heard about through a story. However, the impact of information s ource interacted with interview (recall, reenactment) and number of ev ent exposures. Furthermore, children's sensitivity to event structure was dependent on information source and exposure. These results highli ght the importance of information source in the formation of children' s event representations.