Affect-Dependent Episodic Memory in Young Children

BARTLETT, JAMES C., and SANTROCK, JOHN W. Affect-Dependent Episodic Memory in Young Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1979, 50, 513-518. An experiment on memory with 5-year-old children tested the hypothesis that a change in affect between input and test interferes with performance in a nominally noncued free recall test but not with performance on a cued recall test. Affect at input was manipulated through an experimenter's behavior as well as the affective tone of stories in which 18 critical words were embedded. Affect at test was manipulated through a second experimenter's behavior as well as through presentation of 6 pictures which subjects viewed just prior to beginning recall. Free recall of the critical words showed the state-dependent effect while cued recall and recognition of these words did not. The results are consistent with prior studies of drug-induced states in adults and suggest that a change in affect can interfere with childrens' ability to generate internal retrieval cues in free recall.