When initial interviews are delayed a year: effect on children's 2-year recall.
Three- to nine-year-old children were interviewed about a medical emergency (injury requiring hospital ER treatment) two years after it occurred. Half of the number of children had been interviewed shortly after injury as well as 6 and 12 months later, while the remaining children had had only one prior interview a year after injury. There was remarkably little long-term deterioration in memory by both groups. Having a delayed initial interview had two effects, and both were relevant only to the harder-to-remember hospital treatment event: (a) The late-interview group was less accurate, and (b) early-interview children had more extensive free recall, suggesting that multiple prior interviews teach children the "rules of the memory game'' when they are asked open-ended questions. Forensic implications are discussed.
Peterson
Carole
C
Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, Canada. carole@.mun.ca
Pardy
Lisa
L
Tizzard-Drover
Tracy
T
Warren
Kelly L
KL
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D013997:Time Factors; D014947:Wounds and Injuries