Memory Development in Middle Childhood and Adolescence

Abstract

Abstract The capacity to remember past episodes develops rapidly from childhood into adolescence. This development emerges from the contribution of neurocognitive processes supporting improvements in the quality of memory representations and in the ability to monitor and regulate memory accuracy. After a brief historical overview, this chapter discusses these contributing factors. First, it examines evidence linking changes in hippocampal processes to memory representations becoming increasingly more precise, rich in spatiotemporal detail, and retrievable through a larger variety of cues. Second, the chapter reviews the literature on strategy and metamemory development and highlights initial findings suggesting that cortical changes especially in frontoparietal regions support children’s ability to monitor and regulate their memory states. Finally, given the importance of healthy development of episodic memory, the chapter examines atypical functioning observed in several medical conditions, neurodevelopmental disorders, and environments; this body of work calls into question the understanding of normative development and urges the consideration of the complexity and multidetermined nature of memory development.