The role of the physical context in supporting young children's use of spatiotemporal organization in recall

Four experiments were conducted to investigate the role of the physical context in supporting 3‐ to 5‐year‐olds' use of spatiotemporal organization in recall. Children were familiarized with several target items and their corresponding landmarks arranged along a path in a model park. After familiarization, an experimenter removed the target items from the park. In Experiment 1, 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds recalled the missing items with the park either in view or out of view. When the park model was in view, 4‐ year‐olds used the order of the items along the path to structure their recall. In Experiment 2, 4‐ and 5‐year‐olds recalled the missing items with the landmarks arranged either in the same order as in familiarization or in a new order. Children used the order of landmarks along the path at test to structure their recall, even though the order of landmarks changed from familiarization to test. Experiment 3 was identical to Experiment 2, except that the path was removed from the park. Five‐year‐olds used the order of landmarks along the path at test to structure their recall when the order of landmarks remained the same from familiarization to test, but had much more difficulty doing so when the order of landmarks changed from familiarization to test. Using a more difficult task, Experiment 4 revealed that spatiotemporal organization was positively related to amount recalled. Together, these findings suggest that the structure of the physical environment plays an important role in supporting young children's use of spatiotemporal organization in recall.