Children at ages 3, 5, and 7 (N = 187) provided reports of their physi
cal examinations immediately following the checkup and after a delay o
f either 1, 3, or 6 weeks, or only after 3 weeks. The protocol used fo
r all interviews consisted of initial general prompts, followed by inc
reasingly specific questions as needed. Recall of standard features of
the examinations was scored, along with responses to questions concer
ning acts that did not occur. Retention of the event was extensive and
accurate. Although clear age effects were observed in recall, the del
ay 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.