Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects upon accuracy of recall of different techniques of obtaining evidence from 10-and I I-year-old children about a previously witnessed incident.The first experiment studied three techniques: ( a ) free report, (6) use of general questions, and (c) use of specific questions. It was expected that the free report method would produce the most accurate but least complete initial recall, but that this lack of completeness might have a detrimental effect upon the accuracy of later recall. The free report technique did produce highly accurate, although rather incomplete recall, b6t initial use of this technique did not have any detrimental effect upon later, more structured recall.The second experiment investigated the sole use of the free report technique over a 2-month period. It was expected that a high level of accuracy would be achieved at all recall sessions. The effect upon accuracy of recall of a delay of 2 weeks or 2 months prior to the first experimental recall session was also investigated in this experiment. A high level of accuracy was obtained at all recall sessions. However, a delay before the first recall session had an adverse effect upon the completeness of recall.

In response to recent changes in the Home Office recommendations concerning police interviewing of mentally handicapped persons, an experiment was carried out to investigate the usefulness of different interviewing techniques with mildly mentally handicapped children. Previous research carried out with children of normal intelligence (Dent & Stephenson, 1979) indicated that their recall of an incident was most accurate when unprompted. Theoretical research in the field of mental handicap suggested that such children's recall would be poorest when either unprompted or when heavily prompted, and that some form of intermediate cueing of recall may prove optimal. The experiment described here investigated the accuracy of recall of a live incident by a group of children with IQs ranging from 50 to 70 points in response to one of the following methods of elicitation: free recall, general questions and specific questions. As predicted, the general questions produced recall that was optimal in terms of completeness and accuracy.

Mental health professionals need to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams. Drawing on available guidance, managers should encourage and support team members to undertake shared learning where possible, both within clinical settings and through more formal educational provision. In this way, managers can facilitate collaborative relationships which will pay dividends for the provision of effective mental health care. This project adds to the limited knowledge currently available on interprofessional learning and attitudes within a mental health context.

This paper examines the relationship between memory for an event and interrogative suggestibility. Six groups of people with learning disabilities (Full Scale IQ: 5>74) received either a verbal or a visual-verbal presentation of an event and one of three methods of eliciting recall (free recall, specific questions, general questions). It was found that a visual-verbal presentation led to more complete and accurate recall than a verbal only presentation, and that subjects in the specific questions condition gave more complete and accurate recall than subjects in the free recall condition. These results are discussed in the light of related research on questioning people with learning disabilities. Further, it was found that subjects receiving a visual-verbal presentation were less susceptible to the leading questions of the suggestibility scale used than were subjects receiving a verbal only presentation. This finding may call into question the validity of the suggestibility scale as a measure of the reliability of eyewitness testimony. This is because most human testimony is based on visually perceived material while the suggestibility scale presents only verbal information.

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