Long-term stability of young children's eyewitness accuracy, suggestibility, and resistance to misinformation

Lehman, Elyse Brauch; McKinley, Marcia; Thompson, David W.; Leonard, Ann; Liebman, Julie I.; Rothrock, Danielle D.

doi:10.1016/j.appdev.2009.11.007

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Information can be communicated with gestures and can further be influenced by interviewers' beliefs, attitudes, and prior knowledge (Almerigogna et al, 2008;Wright et al, 2009;Sondhi & Gupta, 2005;Wright et al, 2007). In child interviewing research, forensic investigations rely on children's abilities to appropriately recall information about the witnessed event during questioning (Bruck & Ceci, 1999Finnilä et al, 2003;Goodman & Reed, 1986;Lehman et al, 2010). Exposure to verbal suggestive interviewing techniques can affect the accuracy of eyewitness testimonies (Okado & Stark, 2005;Roebers & Schneider, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Gestural Misinformation Effect in Child Interviews in Switzerland

2023

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Gestures embody concepts in the form of universal representations. Researchers have highlighted that social communication often embodies nonverbal behavior. A forensic interviewer’s nonverbal behavior, such as gesturing during an interview, could communicate misleading information and may cause inaccuracies in the interviewees’ testimonies. The current study was conducted in Switzerland and included 108 child participants, in three age groups (a younger sample aged 6–9 years, n = 32) (a middle sample aged 10–11 years, n = 40) and an older sample aged 12–13 years, n = 36). Participants viewed a video and completed an interview about the video, individually, immediately after. During the questioning, the interviewer deliberately misled the interviewees with nonverbal gestures. The results showed that 95 children were misled by at least one gesture and that gestures led to a significant decrease in accuracy. Children also incorporated misleading gestures and reported false information; adding to existing evidence that misinformation can also be communicated through nonverbal gestures. Our findings demonstrate the negative influence of misleading gestures in child eyewitness interviews and provide more evidence for the robustness of the gestural misinformation effect, reported in previous research.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The misinformation effect describes the event when misleading post-event information impairs or alters memory (Gurney et al, 2013;Lehman et al, 2010). The alteration or impairment of memory can refer to weakening or clouding, as well as a general failure of memory (Holliday et al, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Gestural Misinformation Effect in Child Interviews in Switzerland

2023

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“…Researchers suggested that memory suggestibility was a structure similar to a trait [26] [27]. Lehman and colleagues (2010) [27] investigated the memory accuracy and memory suggestibility of 4-and 6-year-old in a two-year longitudinal study, and reported that young children's stability of memory suggestibility was very poor across time. Older children's memory suggestibility was more stable than younger children [26].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Memory Suggestibility under Social Pressure and Inhibitory Control in Preschoolers

Cao¹

2015

JBBS

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The current study examined the interaction of inhibitory control and social pressure on young children's memory suggestibility. Children were administered the Video Memory Suggestibility Scale for Children (VMSSC) and batteries of inhibitory control tasks, and were exposed to different levels of situational social pressures during interviews for memory suggestibility. The findings indicated that inhibitory control played a significantly moderating role in the relationship between social pressure and memory suggestibility. The greater the inhibitory control, the lower the effects of social pressure on the memory suggestibility of children. For the children with lower levels of inhibitory control, the social pressure positively predicted memory suggestibility; but for the children with higher levels of inhibitory control, the social pressure didn't significantly predict memory suggestibility. So, to a certain extent, memory suggestibility may be a dynamic integration of stable trait and fluctuating state elements. The implications for the essence of memory suggestibility were discussed.

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“…That post‐event misinformation can lead people to report information never actually witnessed is often referred to as the misinformation effect (e.g., Loftus, Miller, & Burns, ). Misinformation effects have been extensively documented in children and adults (e.g., Ceci, Ross, & Toglia, ; Lehman et al ., ; London, Bruck, & Melnyk, ; Roebers & Schneider, ; Saunders, ; Schwartz‐Kenney & Goodman, ). In doing so, many previous developmental studies relied on neutral stories or films as stimuli (see Paz‐Alonso et al ., , for review).…”

Section: Misinformation Effects and Compliancementioning

confidence: 99%

Developmental Differences across Middle Childhood in Memory and Suggestibility for Negative and Positive Events

Paz‐Alonso

Goodman

2016

Behavioral Sci & The Law

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In the present study, we investigated age differences in children's eyewitness memory and suggestibility for negative and positive events that children often experience during middle childhood. We first examined 216 ratings by children aged 8-12 years of the frequency and intensity of personal negative and positive experiences (Study 1). Based on those ratings, videotapes depicting the most frequent and intense negative (an accident) and positive (a family excursion) events were developed. A new sample of 227 children aged 8-12 years was tested for recognition memory of the videotapes using the three-stage post-event misinformation procedure (Study 2). Compared with 8- to 9-year-olds, 10- to 12-year-olds exhibited less memory malleability and less compliance with false information. Age improvements in recognition accuracy were also evident for children who watched the negative event, but not for those who watched the positive event. Compliance predicted misinformation effects, particularly in regard to peripheral details. Thus, using ecologically representative emotional events, age differences in suggestibility and memory accuracy emerged, especially for negative events.Theoretical and forensic implications concerning children's eyewitness memory and suggestibility are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Long-term stability of young children's eyewitness accuracy, suggestibility, and resistance to misinformation

Cited by 6 publications

References 48 publications

The Gestural Misinformation Effect in Child Interviews in Switzerland

The Gestural Misinformation Effect in Child Interviews in Switzerland

Memory Suggestibility under Social Pressure and Inhibitory Control in Preschoolers

Developmental Differences across Middle Childhood in Memory and Suggestibility for Negative and Positive Events

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