1. The Psychometric Properties of the Autobiographical Memory Test in Preschool-Aged Children
- Author
-
Laura Ros, Alonso Mateo, José Miguel Latorre, Marta Nieto, and Jorge J. Ricarte
- Subjects
Male ,Psychometrics ,Urban Population ,Memory, Episodic ,Psychology, Child ,Pictorial Works as Topic ,050105 experimental psychology ,Developmental psychology ,Humans ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Child ,Applied Psychology ,Psychological Tests ,Schools ,Autobiographical memory ,05 social sciences ,Reproducibility of Results ,United States ,Test (assessment) ,Clinical Psychology ,Child, Preschool ,Mental Recall ,Female ,Cues ,Factor Analysis, Statistical ,Psychology ,050104 developmental & child psychology - Abstract
The Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) is the most commonly used tool to assess the phenomenon of overgeneral memory. The AMT has mainly been used in adult populations, but its use in preschool children is less common. The need to create an appropriate instrument to study the memory specificity in preschool years led us to develop an AMT version adapted for early childhood. The AMT–Preschool (AMT-P) was administered to a sample of preschool children aged between 3 and 6 ( N = 364). The results suggest that the AMT-P functions differently in preschoolers depending on age. With children older than 53 months, results suggest that the AMT-P is appropriate for assessing overgenerality. Nevertheless, with younger children age, the task is more difficult. These results concur with previous research suggesting that the ability to recall specific memories is consolidated from the age of 4½.
- Published
- 2016