Remembering specific episodes of a scripted event

Children's memory for a specific episode of a repeated event was investigat ed in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, eighty 4- and 7-year-olds experienced a standard novel event 1, 2, or 4 times, followed by an episodic event for those children who had multiple standard event experiences. The episodic e vent involved the addition of both schema-typical and schema-atypical activ ities to the standard event. Following a I-week delay, children were asked to recall both event types. Four-year-olds were more confused than older ch ildren regarding when the new activities had been experienced, although exp erience improved memory for the schema-atypical activities. In contrast, 7- year-olds were able to establish more accurate memories for both the schema -typical and the schema-atypical changes. Experiment 2 demonstrated that 4- year-olds could, however, establish distinct memories for both types of cha nges when the standard event was simplified. The results are discussed in t erms of the development of the relation between script memory and memory fo r a specific instance of an event. (C) 1999 Academic Press.