Repeated encounters of a similar kind: Effects of familiarity on children's autobiographic memory

There are a number of accounts in the literature of how general event knowledge can affect recall of specific episodes (Linton, 1982; Neisser, 1981; Schank, 1983). Based on these accounts and on research on constructive processes in children's recall, a model of the relation between general-event knowledge and the development of autobiographic memory is proposed and tested in two studies of effects of familiarity on children's general-event scripts and their recall of specific episodes. Study 1 compared 3-and 5-year-olds' scripts and episodic memories of routine and more novel events. Children appeared to have difficulty recalling routine episodes: They provided more general information about everyday events than they could recall for particular episodes; their episodic memories were no more detailed than their general accounts; and memories of less routine episodes were relatively longer and more detailed than recall of everyday episodes. Study 2 compared 3-, 5-, and 7-year-olds' scripts and episodic memories for events with which they had varying amounts of experience. With increased experience, both types of reports became more generic and included fewer particular details. In both studies, major developmental differences appeared only in stylistic measures: Older children's narratives were longer and more elaborate than younger children's accounts. Results suggest that children organize and retrieve autobiographic memories in much the same way as do adults.