Effects of Cognitive Interviewing and Practice on Children's Recall Performance

In the first experiment a staged event was carried out that involved a private encounter between an unfamiliar man and two children. Results showed that questioning techniques based on principles from cognitive psychology significantly increased the number of correct facts recalled by both 7- to 8-year-olds and 10- to 11-year-olds over that gained with standard interview procedures and without affecting the number of incorrect items generated. These results were replicated in the second experiment with a different staged event and with 8-to 9-year-olds and 11- to 12-year-olds. The second experiment also assessed the impact of a prior practice cognitive interview, and practice was found to be effective for both age groups. Tables, references, appendixes