ABSTRACT
Suppose that a child is being questioned by an adult about an experience. The adult asks questions in an effort to learn what the child “remembers.” The child attempts to answer the questions. The child’s answers constitute a verbal account of what may or may not have occurred. This conversational situation is common to a number of investigations of memory in this volume but may go unrecognized as such. For this reason alone, I have chosen conversational interaction as a context for discussion of issues and problems that pertain to the study of memory for everyday and emotional events. Although I pay particular attention to the co-constructive aspects of an adult interacting conversationally with a child in an effort to find out what the child “remembers,” I touch on ideas, issues, questions, and problems raised in all chapters.
