Script development and memory organization in preschool and elementary school children∗

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Abstract
Young (3–4 years old) and old (7–8 years old) subjects participated in a three‐phase study investigating the development of scripts and the ability to use scripts as an information‐retrieval guide. In the script generation phase, young children did not verbalize as much script information as older subjects. In a typicality rating phase, all generated information was rated for typicality by both groups. No difference in overall typicality ratings between age groups was found, suggesting both groups had similar script content, regardless of differences in script generation abilities. A recognition test phase tested children's recognition memory for passages containing typical and atypical items. Memory discrimination varied significantly with age and typicality, and a significant age × typicality interaction was found. The script pointer plus tag hypothesis was employed to suggest that although younger children have similar scripts, their script “boundaries” may be less well defined. It was concluded that further research investigating the use of scripts in memory may be more relevant to script development theory than the investigation of script content.

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