The component structure of memory during development

Episodic memory, or memory for specific past experiences, can be measured in ways ranging from fully controlled laboratory paradigms to real-world settings. However, it is unknown whether different measures of episodic memory are capturing the same construct. In other words, how do the different tasks that help to define episodic memory relate to one another, or what is the component structure of episodic memory as defined by the tasks that measure it? We examined this question in children between 4 and 7 years (N = 76), using a battery of assessments ranging from measurements of memory for minievents presented in the lab to measures of memory for a cartoon, and most naturalistically, recall of real-world events, that is, autobiographical memory. Most measures of memory improved with age. After controlling for the effects of age and verbal IQ, a factor analysis revealed two distinct components of children's memory. The first component was comprised of our lab-based measures of memory and captured the majority of variance in the data. The second component included autobiographical memory and free recall of previously seen cartoons. This dichotomy may be driven by whether memory was assessed via recall or recognition or by the presence or absence of narrative structure. Without changes to typically used experimental design, current lab-based tasks and more naturalistic assessments of memory may not be measuring the same underlying construct. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).