Social memory in children from urban and rural Mozambique: A pre-registered replication study

Abstract

This Short Article reports a replication of prior research suggesting that children from high-stress environments may exhibit enhanced memory for social stimuli. We tested children from two Mozambican communities (n = 124): Nhandar, a rural area historically marked by poverty and paramilitary control, and Gorongosa, a comparatively lower-stress town. Using the same short-term and working memory tasks as the original study in Italy, we found that Nhandar children outperformed their peers on both tasks. These findings provide cross-cultural support for the idea that adversity may shape memory development in context-sensitive, adaptive ways.