Close encounters of the witness kind: Children's memory for a simulated health inspection

Abstract

A total of 128 children from each of two age groups (6-7 years and 10-11 years) took part individually in a simulated health check procedure. This involved direct confrontation between the child and an adult stranger in which the child was touched and an article of clothing (shoes) removed. One week later children took part in a series of tests which examined their testimony of the events in which they participated. Older children were superior to younger on both free and prompted recall of event and appearance information and made fewer errors, both relatively and absolutely, on recall of appearance but not events. The two age groups did not differ in their competence in the construction of Photofit pictures and showed no differences in performance on identification from a photographic array, irrespective of whether the adult was present or absent. The implications of these findings for the current debate over the legal admissibility of children''s evidence are discussed.