Episodic memory binds together the diverse elements of an event into a coherent representation. This property allows for the reconstruction of multidimensional experiences when triggered by a cue related to a past event—a process of pattern completion. Such holistic recollection is evident in young adults, as shown by dependency in the retrieval success for different associations from the same event (Horner & Burgess, 2013, 2014). Preschool-aged children show fragile episodic memory, which undergoes robust gains during early and middle childhood. However, the ontogeny of pattern completion is uncharted in children. Here, we found that 4- and 6-year-old children retrieve complex events in a relatively holistic manner, i.e., retrieval accuracy for one aspect of an event predicted accuracy for other aspects of the same event. Nevertheless, the degree of holistic retrieval increased from age 4 to adulthood, suggesting a protracted refinement of pattern completion that may underlie episodic memory development.
Development of holistic episodic recollection
