The Effect of a Repeated Interview on Young Children's Eyewitness Memory
| Author | Alison Tucker,Mary Luszcz,Peter Mertin |
| Published date | 01 June 1990 |
| Date | 01 June 1990 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000486589002300204 |
AUST &NZ
JOURNAL
OF CRIMINOLOGY (June 1990) 23 (117-124) 117
THE EFFECT OF A REPEATED INTERVIEW ON YOUNG
CHILDREN'S EYEWITNESS MEMORY
Alison Tucker,*Peter
Mertint
and Mary Luszczt
The effect
of
multiple interviews on the reliability
of
child witnesses' testimony is a current
concern in both the legal and child welfarefields. This wasa preliminary study
of
the effect
of
a repeated interview on the memory
of
five-and six-year old children for an inoculation
experience. In general, findings were consistent with those from other ecologically valid
studies. The children providedminimal information spontaneously but gave relatively accurate
responses to what, who, where and when questions. They often were able to resistsuggestible
questions, and identify a person present at the inoculation from a photograph. With a repeated
interview, children's performance (correct responses and errors) was consistent across time.
However, interval did have an effect on some memory tasks. The findings support the current
trend towards early interviewing
of
child witnesses after a crime, followed by minimal
re-interviewing.
When a child is required to give evidence, there are a number of cognitive tasks she
or he has to undertake. The child is being asked to describe an event from incidental
memory, that is, the memory that occurs when information is unintentionally
processed.
At
the
time of the witnessed event, the child may
not
have realised the
significance of it, and would not have known that she or he would be questioned
about it at some later date. Therefore, the child would have made no conscious
efforts to
remember
details about what happened. Further,
the
child may be
required to give evidence about the event many months afterwards, because of
delays in the current prosecution process (Cashmore and Horsky, 1988).
Children's Eyewitness Memory
In the past, laboratory studies of children's eyewitness memory have focused
primarily on suggestibility (ie, the tendency to agree with information provided by
an external source). Findings have been equivocal, with some supporting the
prevalent attitude
that
children are unreliable witnesses, while others provided
evidence for equivalent suggestibility in adults and children, particularly older
children. With .regard to memory, studies have found
that
children's ability to
report information spontaneously improves with age, and
that
direct questioning
about an event increases the amount of information provided (see Cole and Loftus,
1987, for a recent review).
A
major
criticism of these studies is
that
they lack "ecological validity", that is,
they do not utilise naturally occurring events. The children are often tested in a
laboratory, and unrealistic "events" are used (eg, being read astory). In addition,
the children often know their memory is being tested; thus, incidental memory is
not assessed. Although these studies provide information about laboratory
performance, they do not pertain directly to an eyewitness situation.
*BSc, M Psych, Clinical Psychologist, Child Protection Service, Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford
Park, SA 5042.
tBA, MPsych, Senior Clinical Psychologist, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service, Prospect,
SA 5082.
:I:
BA, MA, PhD, Senior Lecturer, Psychology Discipline, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042.
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