What did the others see? - Memory development in children aged 18 months

We have conflicting results on whether children can remember unique events before the age of three or four, moreover, researchers have difficulties in finding the adequate method to study this. In this experiment, we involved children in a task, where they experienced that an adult partner, despite expectations, knew more than anyone would have thought: After the partner had left the room, it became clear to everyone including the child, that through a detective mirror they had been peaking before. We created a situation where we prompted children playfully, and not by directly asking their memories, to find out from their memory images, what others could have seen. With this indirect method we have found that even 18-month-old toddlers can refresh their beliefs about others’ knowledge using their information about the peeking, that is, they are adept to use the memories of earlier events to do it.