ABSTRACT

A mother of two preschool boys recently said to one of us, in recounting a feat of memory by her 4-year-old: “I know that young children are supposed to have remarkable memory but Jonathan is really astounding in what he remembers.” The contrast of this comment with the characterization by developmental psychologists of young children’s memory as impoverished is ironic. Is the mother’s impression misguided? Is the view of developmental psychologists wrong? Can the two views be reconciled somehow?