TRANSACTIONS OF SUB-SECTION I. 691 
B. ‘Interrogatory.’ 
1. Number of Correct and Incorrect Replies. 
Over one-third of the replies of the normal children and over one-half of 
those of the defective children are incorrect. A repetition of the questions 
after an interval of seven weeks causes a slight decrease in the accuracy of the 
Interrogatory. 
2. Classification into Categories. 
The questions which refer to the categories of actions and items are answered 
most frequently. The evidence in connection with colours and the sequence of 
events is very unreliable. Whenever there is any uncertainty about the existence 
of an object, the uncertainty is accentuated in the responses to the questions 
about its colour. In all the categories the replies of the defective children are 
much less accurate than those of the normal children. 
3. Suggestibility of the Children. 
Generally, the children are suggestible; the defective children to a much 
greater extent than the normal children. The suggestibility increases as the 
interval between the event and recall becomes greater. Knowledge of past 
experiences of similar situations has a considerable influence upon the replie« 
given. Components of the event which are vaguely perceived, or not perceived 
at all, are often interpreted or supplied according to the manner in which they 
are most usually experienced. 
There appears to be no correlation between general intelligence and suscep- 
tibility to suggestion, but the older children are less suggestible than the younger. 
The relative suggestive force of the questions is approximately the same for 
each of the groups tested. 
The most suggestive questions are those which refer to the less important or 
obscure features of the event, and especially to those suggested components 
which might be expected to exist. On the other hand, those questions are 
least suggestive which refer to the most prominent, uncommon, or irrelevant 
components of the event. 
4. Estimation of Sizes and Time. 
The normal children are usually fairly accurate in their estimations of the 
dimensions of objects; the defective children fail completely in this respect. 
In every case, the duration of the event was over-estimated by the normal 
children, and there appears to be a definite connection between the number of 
details observed by any child and the amount of his over-estimation. 
The defective children have no conception of the length of such a time 
interval. 
C. General Conclusions. 
1. Normal children, when allowed to volunteer their evidence under favour- 
able conditions, and when uninfluenced by factors such as cross-examination, the 
personality of the questioner, &c., can give testimony of a high degree of accu- 
racy, but of small range. 
2. The testimony of the normal children is distinctly superior, both quan- 
titatively and qualitatively, to that of the mentally defective children. 
4. Contrast as a Faclor in Psychological Hxplanation. 
By Dr. W. G. Smrru. 
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