Abstract:
Twenty-six children (13 boys, 13 girls, mean age = 9.19 years) in the 3`(1 and 4`h grades at a private parochial school participated in a memory event in their classroom, in which a visitor talked to the children about a joke. On the way out of the classroom, the visitor nonchalantly picked up a book planted for this study. Immediately following the event, the children were individually interviewed about the visitor and the book to assess their memory of the event. Some of the children were asked to draw and tell their answers while others were asked to just tell their answers. Two coders independently tabulated the number of correct details and errors reported by the children. Counter to the hypothesis, results show that drawing did not increase the number of correct details the children recalled when compared to the tell only group. Also, drawing did not significantly increase the number of errors the children made. From a practical standpoint, drawing has the potential to be very useful in forensic interviews with children.