This study investigated whether the content of children’s drawings of an event changes over three successive interviews about that event. It also assessed whether children recall more details verbally than they draw. Twenty-seven 3- to 6-year old children witnessed a live event which ended with one actor stealing a cuddly toy. They were interviewed about it 1 day, 2 weeks, and 6 months later. At each interview, children were asked to make a drawing of the event while narrating what happened. We analyzed the content of the drawings for seven features relevant to the event as well as inaccurate information. Children’s inclusion of “the perpetrator” and “the victim” decreased over time but the other features remained stable. Children verbally reported significantly more details than they drew. Our findings suggest that children provide less information in drawings than in verbal reports, but this information may be more reliable and stable compared to verbal reports over multiple interviews.

本研究调查了儿童关于该事件的绘画内容在关于该事件的三个​​连续采访中是否发生变化。它还评估了儿童口头回忆的细节是否比他们画的多。27 名 3 至 6 岁的儿童目睹了一场现场活动，最后一名演员偷了一个可爱的玩具。他们在 1 天、2 周和 6 个月后接受了采访。在每次采访中，孩子们都被要求在讲述发生的事情的同时绘制事件的图画。我们分析了与事件相关的七个特征的绘图内容以及不准确的信息。随着时间的推移，儿童对“肇事者”和“受害者”的包容逐渐减少，但其他特征保持稳定。孩子们口头报告的细节比他们画的要多得多。