| Carole Peterson | |
| Education: | BSc, University of Washington PhD, 1974, University of Minnesota |
| Thesis Title: | Communicative and narrative behavior of pre-school aged children |
| Thesis Year: | 1974 |
| Thesis Url: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/1128416 |
| Workplaces: | Memorial University of Newfoundland |
Carole L. Menig-Peterson (born 1947) is an American–Canadian child psychologist. She is a professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland who specializes in early childhood memory. In 2012, Peterson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for pioneering narrative ability, eyewitness memory, and early childhood amnesia.
As an undergraduate student at the University of Washington, Peterson was named a National Merit Finalist.[1] Upon graduating, she enrolled at the University of Minnesota for her PhD.[2]
Following her PhD in 1974, Peterson spent over a decade outside of academia before accepting a faculty position at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) in 1991. Her research at MUN heavily focused on children's development of narrative skills and children's memory.[3] In 2012, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for pioneering narrative ability, eyewitness memory, and early childhood amnesia.[4] Peterson continued to conduct research on childhood memory as it pertains to the legal system. In 2016, she received a grant to lead a five-year study titled "Assessing Interviews and Recall in Children." The aim of the study was to improve children's credibility as witnesses.[5] In 2021, Peterson revealed that one's earliest memories could date back to when they were two-and-a-half years old, despite most people placing their earliest memories as happening at three-and-a-half to four years old.[6]