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Learning From Others: The Effects of Agency on Event Memory in Young Children
Author(s) -
Howard Lauren H.,
Riggins Tracy,
Woodward Amanda L.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13303
Subject(s) - psychology , cognitive psychology , event (particle physics) , developmental psychology , context (archaeology) , memoria , agency (philosophy) , social learning , social memory , cognition , cognitive science , neuroscience , paleontology , pedagogy , philosophy , physics , epistemology , quantum mechanics , biology
Little is known about the influence of social context on children's event memory. Across four studies, we examined whether learning that could occur in the absence of a person was more robust when a person was present. Three‐year‐old children ( N = 125) viewed sequential events that either included or excluded an acting agent. In Experiment 1, children who viewed an agent recalled more than children who did not. Experiments 2a and 2b utilized an eye tracker to demonstrate this effect was not due to differences in attention. Experiment 3 used a combined behavioral and event‐related potential paradigm to show that condition effects were present in memory‐related components. These converging results indicate a particular role for social knowledge in supporting memory for events.