Did the popsicle melt? Preschoolers’ performance in an episodic-like memory task

ABSTRACT

Episodic memory has been tested in non-human animals using depletion paradigms that assess recollection for the “what”, “where” and “when” (i.e., how long ago). This paradigm has not been used with human children, yet doing so would provide another means to explore their episodic memory development. Using a depletion paradigm, preschool-aged children were presented in two trials with a preferred food that was only edible after a short interval and a less-preferred food that was edible after the short and long intervals. Younger (mean = 40 months) and older (mean = 65 months) children tended to choose their preferred food after the short intervals, but did not switch to selecting their less-preferred food after the long intervals. Importantly, their choices did not differ with age. Although older children better remembered “what”, “where”, and “what is where” than did younger children, neither age group successfully estimated “how long ago” an event occurred. Finally, both age groups spontaneously recalled information about Trial 1. We also analysed the relation between the different measures used in the study but no clear patterns emerged. Results are discussed with respect to the cognitive mechanisms necessary to succeed in depletion paradigms and the measurement of episodic memory more broadly.

KEYWORDS:

• Episodic memory
• episodic-like memory
• children

Acknowledgments

We are very thankful to the children and parents who volunteered their participation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Note that only two older children chose the empty box in Trial 1 – one of them in the 1-h trial and the other one in the 3-min trial and one younger child did so in Trial 2 (1-h trial).

2. Videos of the second session were unavailable for two of the children and so coding of their spontaneous recall was not possible.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action research fellowship [Project number: 657505] (Horizon 2020) to the first author and by the Government of Ontario and by a Discovery Grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to the second author.