Children's recall of emotional behaviours, emotional labels, and nonemotional behaviours: Does emotion enhance memory?

First, third, and fifth grade children's recall of emotional behaviours, em otional labels, and nonemotional behaviours in text was examined in two exp eriments. Across experiments, all children recalled more emotional behaviou rs (e.g.,"That night Maria dropped a carton of eggs in the kitchen and her parents got mad at her'') than nonemotional behaviours (e.g., "After dinner , Maria and her brothers did their homework together''). In fact, with shor t stories and few items to-be-remembered (Experiment 1), no significant dif ferences were found in first, third, and fifth grade children's recall of e motional behaviours. In contrast, older children recalled more nonemotional behaviours than younger children. With longer and more complex stories (Ex periment 2), older children recalled more emotional behaviours than younger children. Nevertheless, all children recalled more emotional behaviours th an nonemotional behaviours across experiments. The effects of varying the v alence of the emotion, the labelling of emotion, and the length of retentio n interval on memory were also examined. The results are discussed in terms of a recent model of emotion and in terms of the implications for understa nding the development of memory.