Reporting what you have seen: effects associated with age and mode of questioning on eyewitness reports

This study examined age-related differences in the reporting of a filmed domestic scene, in which a mother was either ambiguously caring or ambiguously abusive toward her daughter. Three age groups were used (3- to 4-yr.-old, 6- to 7-yr.-old, and adult), and three modes of questioning were used (free recall, short-answer cued-recall, and leading questions either consistent or inconsistent with what was observed). There were 119 subjects in all: 39 3- to 4-yr.-olds, 39 6- to 7-yr.-olds, and 41 adults. Developmental trends were found in the subjects' ability to answer free-recall questions and cued-recall questions. Although 6- to 7-yr.-olds were significantly lower than adults in their accuracy scores on the cued-recall questions, they were still highly accurate. There were also significant age-related differences in the subjects' suggestibility, with the 3- to 4-yr.-olds being relatively suggestible, the 6- to 7-yr.-olds less so, and the adults virtually unsuggestible. When the leading questions that concerned the central theme of the film (i.e., Was the mother abusive or not?) were isolated, however, no significant age-related differences in suggestibility were found.