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

In Experiment 1, a staged event was carried out that involved a private encounter between an unfamiliar man and 2 children. The 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 Experiment 2 with a different staged event and with 8- to 9-year-olds and 11- to 12-year-olds. Experiment 2 also assessed the impact of a prior practice cognitive interview, and practice was found to be effective for both age groups.