Elaborative Talk During and After an Event: Conversational Style Influences Children's Memory Reports

Abstract

An experimental design was utilized to examine the effects of elaborative talk during and/or after an event on children's event memory reports. Sixty preschoolers were assigned randomly to one of four conditions that varied according to a researcher's use of high- or low- elaborative during- and/or post-event talk about a camping event. In a memory conversation 1 day after the event, children who were engaged in high-elaborative during-event talk and those whose memory conversation featured high-elaborative post-event talk reported more information than children in low-elaborative during- or post-event talk groups. Moreover, 3 weeks later, when a standard memory interview was conducted with all children, high-elaborative during-event talk influenced the children's memory reports.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Support for the research reported here was provided by grant HD37114 from the National Institutes of Health. Additional research support was provided by a dissertation fellowship to the first author. Much appreciation is extended to the many undergraduate and graduate assistants who contributed to data collection and coding, including Nora Benjamin, Justine Hayes, Amanda Jones, Karen Kolmodin, Allison Mugno, Sarah Vitzthum, and Allyson Walters. Thanks are due to Scott Maxwell for very helpful statistical consultation. In addition, we are grateful to the children who participated in the study with the cooperation of their parents, and the teachers and administrators at their preschools.

Notes

Note. Standard deviations in parentheses.

∗p < .05; ∗∗p < .01.

Note. Standard deviations in parentheses.