The Influence of Prior Knowledge and Repeated Questioning on Children's Long-Term Retention of the Details of a Pediatric Examination

• Published in: Developmental psychology 2006-03, Vol.42 (2), p.332-344
• Main Authors: Ornstein, Peter A, Baker-Ward, Lynne, Gordon, Betty N, Pelphrey, Kevin A, Tyler, Caroline Staneck, Gramzow, Elizabeth
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age Differences; Autobiographical Memory; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Child, Preschool; Childhood; Childhood Development; Children; Children & youth; Cognition; Cognitive Development; Developmental psychology; Empirical research; Experiences (Events); Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Humans; Knowledge; Knowledge Level; Long term; Long term memory; Male; Medical Evaluation; Medical treatment; Memory; Office Visits; Pediatrics; Physical Examination; Physical Examination - psychology; Physical examinations; Prior Learning; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Questioning; Questioning Techniques; Recall (Psychology); Retention (Psychology); Sample surveys; Survey analysis; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Children
• ISSN: 0012-1649; 1939-0599
• DOI: 10.1037/0012-1649.42.2.332

Children's recall of the details of pediatric examinations was examined over the course of a 6-month interval. Although the 83 4- to 7-year-old participants reported a substantial amount of information at each assessment, performance declined over time, dropping sharply over the course of 3 months but then remaining constant out to the final interview at 6 months. As expected, older children provided more total information than younger children did and reported a greater proportion of the event components in response to general rather than specific questions. However, comparable patterns of remembering and forgetting over time were observed at each age level. In addition, no effects of repeated questioning-in the form of an interview at 3 months for half of the children-were observed on performance at the 6-month assessment. Moreover, children's prior knowledge about routine doctor visits was assessed before the checkup for half of the participants at each age and was associated with initial but not delayed recall. Although knowledge increased with age as expected, it nonetheless affected recall over and above the influence of age.