Memory for our own personal experiences comprises episodic memory. Episodic memory in people is characterized by multiple events and the sequential order of such events. Here, I summarize research that suggests that rats remember multiple events and the sequential order of events. These studies focus on remembering items-in-context and the replay of episodic memories. Next, I explore connections between episodic memory and hippocampal replay. Finally, I explore open questions for future research. The approaches described here may be used to explore the evolution of cognition.

People remember specific earlier events that happened to them by using episodic memory. Accordingly, researchers have sought to evaluate the hypothesis that nonhumans retrieve episodic memories. The central hypothesis of an animal model of episodic memory proposes that, at the moment of memory assessment, the animal retrieves a memory of the specific earlier event. Testing this hypothesis requires the elimination of the hypothesis that animals solve such problems by using non-episodic memory. Most of the research on event memory in nonhumans focuses on memory of a single event. Here, I describe approaches that we have used with rats to move from episodic memory of one event to two events, to many events, and to sequentially ordered events. These studies focus on source memory, binding of episodic memories, remembering items-in-context, and the replay of episodic memories. Connections between episodic memory and hippocampal replay are explored. These approaches may be used to explore the evolution of cognition.

This chapter examines the development of children’s verbal event memory skills across early childhood. A multi-method approach to the study of children’s developing memory skills and the ways in which these skills are socialized through conversations about the present and past are described. Particular emphasis is placed on characterizing the development of children’s verbal event memory skills across two primary tasks and over time, and most importantly, linking this development to detailed analyses of the social-communicative exchanges that children have with parents and other adults. The primary contributions of this work include the use of microanalytic assessments of parent–child conversations that underscore the unique importance of elaborative Wh-questions and evidence of the clear causal connections between elaborative language and children’s memory reports.

In a 2001 paper published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, Ornstein and Haden asserted that despite considerable progress in understanding age-related differences in memory performance, research on children’s memory offered too few insights into the processes that drive the development of skilled remembering. Essentially, the argument was that the focus of research was more on memory development than the development of memory. This chapter offers an update as to whether and to what extent critical gaps identified by Ornstein and Haden (2001a) remain.

In this chapter, we focus on the ways that parent–child conversations during and after hands-on museum exhibit experiences can advance children’s learning and retention of information about cultural practices, and science and engineering. The work draws on research guided by sociocultural theory from two partially intersecting literatures, one concerned with children’s memory for personally experienced events, including work by Ornstein and his colleagues, and the other focused on learning during family museum visits. Unique partnerships between university researchers and museum practitioners make our work possible.

Responding to a controversy regarding young witnesses’ legal testimony in cases of child abuse, Professor Ornstein implemented a program of research designed to inform the assessment of children’s reports of forensically relevant events. This chapter provides an overview of this extensive work. Following a discussion of the extant scientific and societal contexts, we examine the research paradigm that enabled Ornstein and his colleagues to investigate ethically children’s reports of real-world, sometimes stressful experiences under conditions of experimental control. Next, we describe differences in the event reports provided by children between the ages of 3 and 7 as documented in this research, and explore the underlying explanations for these differences. We continue with an examination of the contributions of Ornstein and his colleagues for obtaining and evaluating children’s eyewitness testimony, and discuss some continuing challenges for understanding children’s memory for salient experiences.