The effects of intervening experiences on children's memory for a physical examination

✍ Scribed by Gabrielle F. Principe; Peter A. Ornstein; Lynne Baker-Ward; Betty N. Gordon

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 297 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0888-4080
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0720(200001)14:1<59::aid-acp637>3.0.co;2-4

✦ Synopsis

To examine the extent to which children's long-term retention is in¯uenced (both positively and negatively) by intervening events, the impact of three programmed experiences on later recall of the details of a physical examination was explored. Four groups of 3-and 5-year-olds were established, with all children being interviewed immediately after their check-ups and then again after 12 weeks. The groups, however, diered in terms of their experiences midway through the delay interval. At each age level, children in three experimental groups received either a complete interview about the physical examination, a return visit to the pediatrician's oce, or an opportunity to view a videotape that showed a child receiving an actual check-up. Children in a fourth group served as controls in that they were not seen during the delay period. Recall of standard features was scored, along with responses to questions concerning procedures that did not occur. The results indicated mixed mnemonic eects for the dierential intervening experiences. In comparison to the control group, children at each age who had received an additional interview or who had observed the videotape showed elevated openended recall at the 12-week interview. In addition, the videotape manipulation, as well as the return visit to the doctor's oce, was associated with a marked decrease in the 5-but not the 3-year-olds' accuracy regarding questions about activities not included in the physical examinations. The results are discussed in terms of factors that aect the facilitation and distortion of memory over long temporal delays.