Developmental differences in the temporal organization of autobiographical recall

Autobiographical memory enables individuals to communicate not only what happened but when, drawing on both local event sequences and global temporal frameworks like recurring routines and conventional time systems (e.g., calendars, clocks). Developmental research has demonstrated gains in the ability to describe past events in sequence through childhood, yet little is known about how children embed experiences within global temporal structures. Moreover, existing studies of autobiographical organization often treat age as the primary driver of developmental change, which may overlook how differences in experience contribute to temporal organization as well. We hypothesized that, with age, children’s autobiographical narratives would shift from being organized in sequences of local events towards being embedded in global, relational structures. Moreover, we predicted that children’s experience navigating time independently in everyday life would relate to their tendency to describe experiences relative to temporal patterns. To that end, 92 participants aged 7-25 years, a key age range during which episodic memory abilities and independence increase, described a typical day, and their narratives were coded with a scheme which distinguished local from global temporal organization. We also measured conventional time knowledge and developed a questionnaire to quantify the independence with which children navigate time in daily life. Results supported our hypothesized developmental shift; with age, participants referenced local sequences less and global time structures more. Furthermore, individual differences in experience were linked to distinct organizational properties, as conventional time knowledge predicted references to specific temporal locations, while independence predicted references to relational time patterns.