Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

Understanding how adults and children remember dynamic events is important for cognition. In S1, adults(N= 177) heard no words, verbs, or nouns while Tobiix30 eyetracker recorded looking to 34 familiar events. Test included 40 events: Old, New Action(old agent,new action), New Agent(new agent,old action), and Conjunction(new combination). Tracking shows more attention to hands (50%) than head (25%); looking affected memory. Results show better memory for actions than agents (e.g.,Trial type:F(3,522)=660.28,p< .001). In an adapted procedure, 19 3-year-olds and 19 4-year-olds were shown 2 events while hearing verbs; tested on memory with the same types of trials. Again, actions were remembered better than agents (e.g.,Trial type(F(4, 72)=25.66,p< 0.001). Conclusions can be drawn regarding the development of event memory with implications for multiple areas (eyewitness testimony,verb learning).