CHILDREN REMEMBER CHILDHOOD - IMPLICATIONS FOR CHILDHOOD AMNESIA

Whether events from early childhood are recalled as children grow olde r is a critical issue for understanding the development of autobiograp hical memory and the phenomenon of childhood amnesia. Sixteen white, m iddle-class 8-year-old children were asked about events that they had recalled in previous interviews when they were 40, 46, 58 or 70 months old. Children recalled most of the events about which they were asked , even those events that occurred in very early childhood. Moreover, c hildren recalled the events accurately and with many details. However, children reported much new and different information about the events at age 8. Overall, girls recalled more information at age 8 than boys did. Surprisingly, there were no relationships between rehearsal and the amount of information children recalled at age 8, but it must be e mphasized that all these events were frequently rehearsed at the time of occurrence. These results demonstrate remarkable memory over extend ed periods of time for events occurring in early childhood. Implicatio ns for childhood amnesia are discussed. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Lt d.