Infants' and toddlers' remembering and forgetting of a stressful medical procedure.
OBJECTIVE
To examine whether a distressing medical procedure leaves lasting impressions in young children's memories.


METHODS
Children 12- to 78-weeks old (N = 172) received inhalation treatment through a face mask or underwent other interventions at a pediatric emergency department. They were randomized to be presented with neutral cues and cues from the inhalation 1 week or 6 months after the target event. Children's reactions at cue presentation were scored from videotapes.


RESULTS
Across the age span tested, children treated with inhalation showed higher distress than controls when presented with cues from inhalation 1 week, but not 6 months after target treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Stress during medical procedures in preverbal children may develop as a result of prior experience of such procedures. These memories typically seem to fade within 6 months.
Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. tlm@psychology.su.se
Torun
T
Lindholm
Rickard L
RL
Sjöberg
Christophe
C
Pedroletti
Anders
A
Boman
Gunnar L
GL
Olsson
Anna
A
Sund
Frank
F
Lindblad
D002673:Child, Hospitalized; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D014743:Videotape Recording