Children's Memory for Conversations After a 1-Year Delay

Abstract

Forensic professionals frequently ask children to recount the occurrence and the content of allegation-relevant conversations during maltreatment investigations. However, little is known about children's conversation memory, especially after long delays that often characterize forensic investigations. Participants included 77 9-year-olds. When children were 8 years old, they participated in two to-be-remembered conversations: a target conversation and an initial interview regarding the target conversation. Memory for both conversations was examined 1 year later. After a year, children remembered the topic of the target conversation, but gist recall of statements was limited. Additionally, children demonstrated a yes-bias when answering yes/no questions about conversation statements. Virtually none of the children recalled participating in the initial interview. Our results suggest that after 1 year, children may remember the topic of seminal conversations, but memory for conversational statements may be sparse and unreliable. Furthermore, children may not recall engaging in peripheral conversations (such as interviews) after extended delays.