Children's memory for a salient medical procedure: implications for testimony

1994

• “Children’s memory for features of a VCUG experience were examined because this invasive procedure is “The children remembered 88% of the component features of the VCUG experience at the initial assessment and 83% after 6 weeks. Behavioral and salivary cortisol measures indicated that the children were distressed during the procedure.”

• “Although the VCUG shares many features with instances of sexual abuse, there are differences that may affect generalization and interpretation. Unlike many cases of sexual abuse, for this sample the VCUG did not occur repeatedly overtime. Although this ensures that previous knowledge is unlikely to inflate recall performance, it also prevents the applicability of the present findings to events that occur repeatedly over long periods of time." 

• "Additionally, the assessment of recall occurs immediately after the procedure, before time has elapsed during which, forgetting, and or suggestion may occur. To address these differences, children are now being recruited who had multiple experiences with the VCUG.”