Development of extended memory

Memory development is described in terms of a bio-social–cultural theory of human cognition. The development from a private unshareable system of basic memory in infancy and very early childhood is framed within an experiential perspective wherein all memory is derived from experience. It is the nature of changing experience, the result of both biological and social–cultural conditions that eventuates in a changed memory system that enables long-term retention of episodic memories, thus establishing the autobiographical memory system. The sequence of developments that interact to bring this about, many dependent on the acquisition of language, are discussed.