Allocentric spatial memory, the memory for locations coded in relation to objects comprising our environment, is a fundamental
component of episodic memory and is dependent on the integrity of the hippocampal formation in adulthood. Previous research
from different laboratories reported that basic allocentric spatial memory abilities are reliably observed in children after 2 years of
age. Based on work performed in monkeys and rats, we had proposed that the functional maturation of direct entorhinal cortex
projections to the CA1 field of the hippocampus might underlie the emergence of basic allocentric spatial memory. We also
proposed that the protracted development of the dentate gyrus and its projections to the CA3 field of the hippocampus might
underlie the development of high-resolution allocentric spatial memory capacities, based on the essential contribution of these
structures to the process known as pattern separation. Here, we present an experiment designed to assess the development of
spatial pattern separation capacities and its impact on allocentric spatial memory performance in children from 18 to 48 months of
age. We found that: (1) allocentric spatial memory performance improved with age, (2) as compared to younger children, a greater
number of children older than 36 months advanced to the final stage requiring the highest degree of spatial resolution, and (3)
children that failed at different stages exhibited difficulties in discriminating locations that required higher spatial resolution abilities.
These results are consistent with the hypothesis that improvements in human spatial memory performance might be linked to
improvements in pattern separation capacities.