Abstract :
[en] Forty-nine parent-child dyads were recruited to examine the link between parental conversational style and preschoolers’ recognition memory and metacognition (i.e., confidence judgment and use of the memorability heuristic). Each dyad participated in a shared staged activity and then discussed about it. Parental conversational style was analyzed focusing on both the interactions’ structure and the content addressed. Then, separately from the parent-child conversation, children’s memory and metacognition were assessed through a story-recall task (i.e., true-false recognition for both memorable and less memorable story items while rating their level of confidence). Results showed that some components of structure (concretizations with few repetitions) and content (interaction between metamemory talk and episodic richness) were related to preschoolers’ accuracy of memory decisions and confidence judgments (i.e., metacognitive monitoring). By documenting the relation between parental conversational style and preschoolers’ metacognitive skills, this study provides promising avenues for explaining the processes whereby preschoolers’ memory is influenced.
[en] General audience summary :
Right from the preschool years, memory is essential because it contributes to the development of identity (e.g., children know they are sociable because they remember their interactions with their peers). The way parents discuss past events with their child promotes child’s development of memory of personal experiences. This study aimed to document this relation by further exploring which components of parental conversational style are associated with children’s memory performance as well as some outcomes known to support memory. Specifically, we investigated whether parental conversational style could be linked to how children monitor their memory and use strategies to improve their performance (i.e., metacognitive skills). To determine parental conversational style, parent-child dyads participated in a shared staged event and, immediately afterward, discussed freely about it. To assess children’s memory performance and metacognitive abilities, children listened to a story and answered true-false questions about it. We found that some specific components of parental conversational style – such as the ability to deepen information without repeating itself or the ability to comment child’s memory performance while addressing episodic information – are related to both children’s memory performance and their ability to evaluate their own performance. These results further support that parents play a critical role in their child’s memory and metacognitive development. The identification of specific parental components related to children’s outcomes is an important first step for the creation of interventions aimed at improving parental conversational style that could be useful in populations at risk of developing cognitive difficulties.
Commentary :
© 2023, American Psychological Association. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the final, authoritative version of the article. Please do not copy or cite without authors' permission. The final article will be available, upon publication, via its DOI.
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