Early childhood primarily involves non-voluntary memory, which begins to develop under educational influence. Young children's memories are easily influenced by adult suggestions and often confuse reality with imagination. Consequently, they readily believe in fairy tale characters and plots, inventing scenarios they deeply desire but know to be unreal. Adults frequently mistake this for lying.
Early childhood also exhibits a distinct "memory recovery" phenomenon: information recalled immediately after learning is less robust than when recalled days later. This indicates children's brains actively process information rather than passively reproduce it.
Young children rarely employ memory strategies during encoding. They cannot yet use words as mediators to aid recall. By ages 6 or 7, they may improve memory with verbal cues when prompted, but they cannot actively utilize this technique independently.