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Young Children's Long‐Term Retention of a Pediatric Examination
Author(s) -
BakerWard Lynne,
Gordon Betty N.,
Ornstein Peter A.,
Larus Deanna M.,
Clubb Patricia A.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1993.tb02968.x
Subject(s) - forgetting , recall , psychology , developmental psychology , affect (linguistics) , audiology , medicine , cognitive psychology , communication
Children at ages 3, 5, and 7 ( N = 187) provided reports of their physical examinations immediately following the checkup and after a delay of either 1, 3, or 6 weeks, or only after 3 weeks. The protocol used for all interviews consisted of initial general prompts, followed by increasingly specific questions as needed. Recall of standard features of the examinations was scored, along with responses to questions concerning acts that did not occur. Retention of the event was extensive and accurate. Although clear age effects were observed in recall, the delay interval did not strongly affect performance over the 6‐week period. The amount of forgetting was significant at ages 3 and 5, but not at age 7. With increasing age, a greater percentage of the features was spontaneously recalled. When presented with incongruous questions, all children evidenced rates of correct denials that exceeded chance and few errors of commission. The initial interview did not affect delayed recall. Implications for children's testimony are discussed.