Children’s Memory for Mild Emotional Information: Positive and Negative Emotional Information and Associations with Temperament

The 2 aims of the current study were to investigate 1) children’s memory for positive and negative emotional information and 2) the influence of temperament on the type of emotional information recalled. Seventy-five children aged 61-77 months participated in a staged event, “Visiting the Pretend Zoo”. Approximately 6-9 days later children participated in a memory interview. Parents/caregivers completed a temperament questionnaire. Children recalled more negative relative to positive emotional information. Children higher in Effortful Control (EC) recalled more negative emotional information relative to children lower in EC. This indicates that EC may play an important role in children’s memory. No other effects of temperament were identified. Limitations of the current study are discussed followed by directions for future study.