Prewriting memories: From anticipatory conversations to children's personal narratives.
Item
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Title
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Prewriting memories: From anticipatory conversations to children's personal narratives.
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Identifier
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AAI9959216
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identifier
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9959216
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Creator
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Presler, Nechama.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Katherine Nelson
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Date
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2000
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Developmental | Psychology, Cognitive
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Abstract
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The fundamental proposition of this exploratory study was that anticipatory conversations may have a role in organizing future experience and support and facilitate memory. Forty-three dyads of parents and their 55- to 97-month-old children participated in a museum workshop. Three days before the visit, parents and children conducted a preparatory conversation. Children's free recall accounts were assessed two days and seven weeks following the visit.;Three factors were identified in the anticipatory conversations as having possible effects on subsequent memory. Bridging was viewed as a form of framing. Parents of younger children linked the visit mainly to past experiences (bridging to memory) and parents of older children linked it to knowledge (bridging to knowledge). Bridging type was expected to affect the thematic focus of recall accounts. Distinctiveness indicated whether the anticipated experience was particularized, and was hypothesized to facilitate recall of unique features. Reciprocal responsiveness indicated dyadic shared attunement and was expected to affect the cohesion and narrative structure of recall accounts.;The themes and degree of elaboration in children's accounts were found to be related to age, with an increased focus over time on the specific event. However, whereas children's narratives increased with age in length, structure and cohesion, this effect was limited to immediate and not delayed memory.;All 3 conversation variables were found to be related either to themes in the memory accounts or to their structure and cohesion. Bridging to memory facilitated initial reference to activities, but bridging to knowledge did not affect reference to content. Distinctiveness was related only to an increased elaboration on content in delayed memory accounts. Responsiveness, instead of age, emerged as a critical factor in children's delayed memory. Responsive anticipatory conversations were related to longer and more complex delayed memory narratives with more evaluation.;It is suggested that this delayed consolidation of memory reflects a process of gradual integration of several levels of the child's experience, and thus "prewriting" affects children's delayed memory narratives. The effects of bridging and responsiveness in anticipatory conversations are discussed as creating continuity of experience and of self.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
