Premium
Children's memory for medical experiences: implications for testimony
Author(s) -
Ornstein Peter A.,
BakerWard Lynne,
Gordon Betty N.,
Merritt Kathy Ann
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-0720(199712)11:7<s87::aid-acp556>3.0.co;2-z
Subject(s) - psychology , forgetting , affect (linguistics) , context (archaeology) , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , paleontology , communication , biology
Because medical procedures involve bodily contact and may evoke discomfort or pain, they are in some ways analogous to instances of child abuse. As such, the study of children's memory for medical experiences provides information that is relevant for an understanding of their abilities to provide accurate eyewitness testimony. This article summarizes the results of a number of studies that have explored children's long‐term retention of details of routine physical examinations as well as other less familiar and more stressful medical procedures. The goal of this work has been to chart age differences in the retention and forgetting of pediatric check‐ups and to examine some of the variables that affect children's memory for the details of medical procedures. The results of this research program are discussed in the context of four general themes about the flow of information within the memory system. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.