Acting out the details of a pediatric check-up: The impact of interview condition and behavioral style on children's memory reports

This investigation was designed to determine whether an enactment interview condition involving a doll and props, in contrast to a verbal interview, w ould enhance 3- and 5-year-olds' (N = 62) recall of a pediatric examination . An additional aim was to explore the influence of behavioral styles and l anguage skills on children's performance, and the extent to which these rel ations varied by age and interview condition. Both 1- and 6-weeks following their check-ups, the children in the enactment condition, particularly the 3-year-olds, provided more spontaneous, elaborate reports than did those a ssessed with a verbal protocol. Nonetheless, enactment also resulted in inc reased errors by the 5-year-olds at the first interview, and by children in both age groups after the 6-week delay. The age and interview condition ef fects, however, were moderated by the children's behavioral characteristics . Among the younger children, a measure of manageability predicted performa nce in the enactment setting, whereas an indicator of persistence was assoc iated with recall in the verbal condition. The results have implications fo r an understanding of children's memory of events and of their ability to p rovide testimony in legal settings.