Intentional and unintentional memory in young children: remembering vs. playing

In an exploration of Istomina's (1975) paradigm contrasting children's recall from an involuntary or game-like context with recall from an intentional or lesson-like context, this study investigated the relative efficacy of asking 4- and 5-year-olds "to remember" or "to play with" a set of 16 pictures or toys in a naturalistic or laboratory setting. The children's behavior and language were measured during two 2-min study phases, after which recall was assessed. Toys promoted different study phase activities and better retention than pictures, asking a child "to remember" a set of toys led to less recall than asking the child "to play" with the toys, and, across all conditions, instructions "to play" and "to remember" elicited differentiated study phase responses but similar levels of retention.