Age of witness: Factors affecting the accuracy of children's EWT

1. CECI and BRUCK (1993)
2. Children lack appropriate schemas
   1. Results in inaccurate recall of events
   2. Difficult to encode event accurately
   3. Adults' prior knowledge/expectations due to schemas may sometimes cause them to imagine things that were actually not present

Nota:

• As time between encoding and retrieval increases, recall and recognition declines in both adults and children.

1. THOMSON (1988)
2. The longer the interval between encoding and retrieval, the higher are the chances of inaccurate details provided by children compared to adults
3. Type of information
   1. Descriptions of people seem to be less accurately reported than details of actions

1. Children omit more information than adults
2. Non-suggestive cues can help elicit accurateinformation
   1. SAYWITZ (1987)
3. When asked leading questions, they are more likely than adults to give the answer implied by the question
   1. GOODMAN and REED (1986)
4. Misleading questions: Questions that wrongly imply that something has happened
   1. Children will eventually incorporate misleading information if given repeatedly
      1. LEICHTMAN and CECI (1995)

1. Interviewer bias

   Nota:

   • - interviewer has fixed about about what really happened - use leading questions to try to get the child to confirm their bias
2. Repeated questions

   Nota:

   • - more likely to change answers if same question is repeated
3. Stereotype induction

   Nota:

   • - person has previously been described as bad - children may assume and report negative things about the person
4. Encouragement to imagine and visualize

   Nota:

   • - children may 'remember' events that never actually happened if they are encouraged too much to think about the event - pressure to give an answer?
5. Peer pressure

   Nota:

   • - children may incorporate events into their own memories that others have told them about
6. Authority figures

   Nota:

   • - desire to please authority figure - more susceptible to misleading information