Recalling an event one year later: The impact of props, drawing and a prior interview

One hundred and one 5-year-old children were interviewed about a routine he alth assessment carried out at school following delays of both 3 days and 1 year or 1 year only. Children were interviewed with prototypical medical i tems and a doll (props), with verbal prompts only (verbal), or with drawing (drawing). There was a decrease in both the amount and the accuracy of the information children reported over the 1-year delay, but no effect of the prior (3-day) interview. Children interviewed with props recalled more info rmation than those asked to draw or interviewed with verbal prompts only, p articularly at the long delay. Correct information was more likely to be re peated across interviews than were errors, and, whereas information repeate d across interviews was highly reliable, information introduced for the fir st time after 1 year was not, particularly when children drew. These findin gs have important implications in applied contexts such as when children ar e called upon to provide testimony following very long delays. Copyright (C ) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.