Learning to Reminisce: A Case Study

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Abstract
This study examined mother-child conversation about past events as a context in which children acquire the discourse skills for talking about the past and develop the ability to recall past events. Conversations about past events were recorded in one mother-child dyad from 20 to 28 months. Analyses focused on changes in the structure and content of the conversation over time as well as on the effects of retention interval on long-term memory. In addition, effects of repeated memory conversations about the same events were examined. Over time, the child was more active in participating in and then initiating conversa-tions about the past. Her contributions also became more evaluative with age. Repeated memory conversations did not affect the child's recall of the particular events that had been previously discussed, but over the 8 months she was able to recall more about events in general. These results suggest that early autobio-graphical memory development involves learning how to remember, not what to remember; the skills for retrieving and talking about memories emerge, but the specific content of repeatedly recalled events varies over retelling. (Psychology)