Given the critical role of memory in all aspects of successful adaptation, Peter Ornstein, Catherine Haden, and Carol Eckerman are examining contrasting developmental pathways to skilled remembering in young children. This project builds upon a rich database regarding age-related changes in children's memory that has been amassed over the last 20 years. The wealth of information regarding the mnemonic abilities of children of different ages notwithstanding, critical issues concerning the development of these skills remain largely unaddressed. For example, little is known about the experiential factors that are associated with the emergence and refinement of these cognitive skills. This project is designed to address these issues by providing a longitudinal analysis of children's varied abilities to remember, with a sample of approximately 120 children. Using two overlapping cohorts of children, age-related changes in remembering are being tracked from 18 to 84 months of age, concentrating especially on the multiple contributions of language and social communication to the development of memory. Taking nonverbal indices of young children's memory as a foundation, the emergence, refinement, and generalization of verbal skills for remembering is being charted.