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The accuracy and suggestibility of children's memory for neutral and criminal eyewitness events
Author(s) -
Ochsner Joyce E.,
Zaragoza Maria S.,
Mitchell Karen J.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
legal and criminological psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.65
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 2044-8333
pISSN - 1355-3259
DOI - 10.1348/135532599167806
Subject(s) - suggestibility , eyewitness testimony , psychology , recall , eyewitness memory , event (particle physics) , social psychology , cognitive psychology , physics , quantum mechanics
Purpose. A critical issue for psychologists interfacing with the legal system is knowing the extent to which laboratory studies of children's testimony generalize to eyewitness situations involving criminal events. The present study was designed to assess whether young children's eyewitness performance following a criminal event would differ from their performance following a neutral event, an issue that has received little empirical attention to date. Methods. The accuracy and suggestibility of 30 first grade children who witnessed a staged event that culminated in a purse theft were compared to that of 30 first graders who witnessed the same event, but without the theft. Results. Children who viewed the theft were found to be more accurate on various measures of recall and recognition than children who viewed the neutral event. On the other hand, children who viewed the theft were not always less suggestible than children who witnessed the neutral event. Conclusion. Taken together, the results suggest that studies of neutral eyewitness situations are likely to underestimate children's memory performance in criminal eyewitness situations.