Pre-Schoolers’ Reports of Conflicting Points Secretly Inserted into a Co-Witnessed Event: An Experimental Investigation Using the MORI Technique

Thirteen pre-school and ten undergraduate pairs participated as eyewitnesses to a simulated criminal event presented through animated cartoons using a presentation trick (MORI technique). Although there were two different versions, the MORI technique had participants observe only one version without being aware of the other. In three reporting sessions, participants recalled what they presumed they had jointly observed; individually immediately after the presentation, collaboratively after the individual recall, and again individually one week later. The main results were: pre-schoolers, as well as undergraduates, showed better recall in the collaborative tests, though the former generally showed poorer recall than the latter, pre-schoolers tended to conform more frequently than undergraduates in the week-later tests, and both pre-school and undergraduate pairs conformed more often for amendment than distortion.