Long-Term Memory for an Emotional Interpersonal Interaction Occurring at 5 Months of Age
Marc H. Bornstein
Child and Family Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Martha E. Arterberry
Gettysburg College
Clay Mash
Child and Family Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

We examined infants’ long-term retention of a single unique emotional experience into early childhood. Twenty-month-olds who had participated in a still-face procedure at 5 months (experience group) fixated the face of the person who had instigated the still face significantly less than the faces of 2 other novel persons. Control 20-month-olds (no-experience group) looked longer overall and fixated the target person equally or more than the 2 novel persons. In short, children who interacted with a stranger in the laboratory under both natural and anomalous social conditions just once when they were infants apparently retained a specific memory of that person and the experience into toddlerhood.