Previous research shows that forming memories of not only whom we have previously encountered but also the feedback of those encounters supports adaptive behavior. However, there are dynamic changes throughout childhood in declarative memory systems, leaving open the question about the precise timing for the emergence and maturation of memory for social interactions. In this study, we characterized memory for dynamic social interactions during a computerized task in children ranging between 4 and 6 years of age. Specifically, we probed memory for the characters children interacted with, the decisions they made, and the valanced-feedback from those interactions. We found that while there were differences in discriminating between old and new characters, there were no age-related differences in the ability to remember which decision a child made or the feedback from that decision when a character was successfully identified. These findings support a model by which basic foundations of social memory develop early in childhood; however, the number of social memories and the incorporation of feedback into these memories may be limited in early childhood.

先前的研究表明，不仅对我们先前遇到的人形成记忆，而且对那些遭遇的反馈形成记忆都支持适应性行为。但是，声明式记忆系统在整个童年时期都有动态变化，这使人们难以确定社交互动记忆的出现和成熟的确切时机。在这项研究中，我们对4到6岁儿童的计算机化任务过程中动态社交互动的记忆进行了表征。具体来说，我们探究了与孩子互动的角色的记忆，他们做出的决定以及这些互动产生的效价反馈。我们发现，在区分新旧字符方面存在差异，在成功识别角色时，记住孩子做出的决定或该决定的反馈的能力没有与年龄相关的差异。这些发现为儿童早期发展社交记忆的基础奠定了基础。然而，在儿童早期，社交记忆的数量以及将反馈纳入这些记忆中可能会受到限制。