ABSTRACT
We all talk about the events of our lives. Beginning in early childhood and continuing throughout the lifespan, over the dinner table, on the telephone, catching up with old friends or meeting new acquaintances, we talk about what happened and what it means. And, importantly, it is as we share our experiences with others that these experiences take on meaning for the self. Particularly from a developmental perspective, the ways in which adults reminisce with young children has a profound influence on how young children come to remember and evaluate their personal past. Whereas many of the chapters in this book focus on the role of biological and cognitive changes in the ability to encode, consolidate and retrieve information, the research reviewed in this chapter expands the horizons of memory development to include the social and cultural values and behaviors that influence how children come to narrate their personal experiences and construct an autobiography that relates their past to their present, and their selves to others.
