EYEWITNESS PERSUASION - HOW AND HOW WELL DO FACT-FINDERS JUDGE THE ACCURACY OF ADULTS AND CHILDRENS MEMORY REPORTS

Children, ages 5-6 and 9-10 years, and adults participated in an eventful laboratory session and provided memory reports of the session. In 3 experiments, college students and parents viewed videotapes of highly accurate and highly inaccurate reports. In 2 experiments, these "fact finders" rated adult witnesses more believable and accurate than younger child witnesses, even when both groups were equally accurate. Perceptions of confidence and consistency mediated credibility judgments. Accurate witnesses were judged more believable and accurate than inaccurate witnesses. Higher perceived confidence, longer free recall, and fewer memory failure admissions were associated with more accurate adult memory reports. Fact finders overused confidence and under-used the other cues in achieving modest accuracy discernment. The results suggest how strong and weak memory reports differ and how fact finders may learn to differentiate them.