The effects of the age of eyewitnesses on the accuracy and suggestibility of their testimony

✍ Scribed by Pamela Coxon; Tim Valentine

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 166 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0888-4080
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0720(199710)11:5<415::aid-acp469>3.0.co;2-a

✦ Synopsis

Previous studies have compared the performance of young adult eyewitnesses with that of children or elderly eyewitnesses, but few studies have allowed direct comparison of the performance of all three age groups. The accuracy and suggestibility of accounts of a video recording of a kidnapping were investigated using an experimental eyewitness paradigm. Subjects were drawn from three age groups: children (aged 7±9 years); young adults (aged 16±18 years) and elderly subjects (aged 60±85 years). Subjects' accuracy in answering non-misleading questions and their susceptibility to misleading information was measured. Both the elderly and child subjects gave fewer correct answers and more incorrect answers to non-misleading questions than did young adults. The elderly subjects gave fewer correct responses but also fewer incorrect responses to non-misleading questions than did child subjects. Children were more suggestible than either elderly or young adults. No significant difference was found in the suggestibility of elderly and young adults. Contrary to the trace strength hypothesis no relationship was found between accuracy of recall and suggestibility.