Individual differences in preschoolers’ emotion content memory: The role of emotion knowledge

This study examined the relation between preschool children’s emotion knowledge and their ability to recall emotionally salient information. In total, 42 participants (ages 35–65 months) viewed a brief video in which a child played with different toys and expressed one of four basic emotions (happy, sad, angry, or afraid) or a neutral expression in each of 10 vignettes. Children were tested on memory accuracy from the vignettes, and their emotion knowledge was also measured. Results indicated that preschoolers’ emotion knowledge was significantly related to memory accuracy for emotion information above and beyond the effect of age or receptive language skills. Tests of a mediation model revealed that emotion knowledge fully mediated the effect of age (or general developmental level) on memory accuracy.

► Preschoolers’ emotion knowledge was related to their memory for emotional content. ► Emotion knowledge explained variance in memory scores after controlling for age. ► Emotion knowledge fully mediated the effect of age on emotion memory.