The effects of verbal labels and vocabulary skill on memory and suggestibility
Sarah Kulkofsky
⁎
Department of Human Development & Family Studies, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA
abstractarticle info
Article history:
Received 3 March 2010
Received in revised form 2 September 2010
Accepted 8 September 2010
Available online 25 October 2010
Keywords:
Suggestibility
Memory accuracy
Language
Vocabulary skill
Interviewing
The current study investigated the effectiveness of the verbal labels procedure (D. A. Brown & M. E. Pipe, 2003)
to improve preschool children's responses to direct open-ended and misleading questions. Additionally,
children's vocabulary skill was considered. Eighty-seven preschool children from diverse backgrounds were
interviewed about a unique event in either a standard interview or a verbal labels interview. Children receiving
the verbal labels interview produced more free recall information. However, this also included more error
statements. Children in the verbal labels interview also showed better performance in answering direct open-
ended questions. Importantly, the verbal labels procedure improved the performance of children in the low
language group on misleading questions, erasing language effects. The results suggest that the verbal labels
procedure may be a useful tool to improve young children's performance in memory interview, although
future research indentifying factors that may influence the production of error statements is warranted.
© 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction
When accusations of child maltreatment arise, it is paramount that
forensic investigators obtain the most complete and accurate accounts
from potential child victims. Over the past three decades a large body
of literature has amassed outlining the effects of interviewing
techniques on the accuracy of children's reports (see Ceci & Bruck,
1993, 1995, 2006; Lamb, Sternberg, Orbach, Hershkowitz, & Esplin,
1999 for reviews). Children appear to be less accurate when
answering directed questions that ask for specific information than
open-ended, free recall questions (e.g., Kulkofsky, Wang, & Ceci, 2008;
Ornstein et al., 1998; Peterson, Dowden, & Tobin, 1999; Poole &
Lindsay, 1995; Poole & White, 1991). Particularly problematic are
leading questions, where the interviewer presupposes certain
information happened (e.g., “He took your shirt off, didn't he?”)
because interviewers generally do not know what actually happened.
Thus, leading questions may actually be misleading. Research
indicates that young children have the lowest accuracy rates when
asked misleading questions compared with other question types (e.g.,
Ceci, Ross, & Toglia, 1987; Poole & Lindsay, 1995; Poole & White,
1991;1993; Waterman, Blades, & Spencer, 2004). Because of chil-
dren's difficulty with direct questions, including misleading questions,
guidelines for interviewing child witnesses suggest that interviewers
rely on free recall prompts as much as possible (e.g., American
Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, 1990; Memorandum of
good practice, 1992). However, research on actual forensic interviews
has shown that interviewers almost always follow-up children's free
recall narratives with more direct questions (Lamb et al., 1996;
Orbach et al., 2000; Sternberg, Lamb, Esplin, & Baradaran, 1999;
Sternberg et al., 1997), including leading questions (Ceci, Kulkofsky,
Klemfuss, Sweeney, & Bruck, 2007). As such, identifying means to
improve children's responses to these questions is of critical concern.
One technique that has been shown to improve children's free
recall in memory interviews is the narrative elaboration technique
(Brown & Pipe, 2003a;2003b; Dorado & Saywitz, 2001; Saywitz &
Snyder, 1996; Saywitz, Snyder, & Lamphear, 1996). The narrative
elaboration technique is a training procedure that teaches children
about the elements of complete accounts of past events, trains them
on visual cue cards indicating story grammar categories (actions,
people, settings, etc.), and gives them practice in producing high-
quality narratives. The technique has been shown to increase the
amount of information children provide, however, the extensive
training program makes it less feasible for actual forensic interviews.
Brown and Pipe (2003a) modified the narrative elaboration technique
with a verbal labels procedure. In this interview, children are first asked
to recall a previous event. After the child indicates that he or she can
recall nothing further, he or she is asked in an open-ended, non-
leading manner to provide information about each of the story
grammar categories (e.g., “Can you tell me more about when this
happened and where you were?”). Brown and Pipe (2003a) showed
that the verbal labels procedure was just as effective as the narrative
elaboration procedure in improving children's free recall. Importantly,
the verbal labels procedure increased the amount of correct
information reported, without a subsequent increase in the amount
of incorrect information.
Increasing the amount of information children provide during free
recall is important in that it may reduce the need for interviewers to
follow-up with subsequent direct questions. Further, and perhaps
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 31 (2010) 460–466
⁎ Tel.: +1 806 742 3000x292.
E-mail address: sarah.kulkofsky@ttu.edu.
0193-3973/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2010.09.002
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Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology