Age‐related Differences in the Free‐recall Accounts of Child, Adolescent, and Adult Witnesses

Abstract

Many researchers have examined the factors that affect children's ability to provide eyewitness evidence, leading to significant reform in policy and practice. In stark contrast, there has been virtually no eyewitness research conducted with adolescents, even though adolescents are still undergoing developmental changes that are likely to affect eyewitness performance. We compared the eyewitness performance of children, adolescents, and adults by showing them a brief film clip depicting a simulated crime and using cognitive interview instructions to elicit free-recall accounts. Adolescents provided more information than children, but less information than adults. Accuracy did not differ with age. These data suggest that, like children, adolescents could benefit from specialised interview techniques that help them provide more complete accounts. Across all three age groups, individual differences in cognitive functioning contributed to variation in eyewitness performance, and eliciting a second freerecall account increased the amount of information reported.

The influence of gender and gender typicality on autobiographical memory across event types and age groups

“…Thus, it is especially provocative that there are reliable gender differences in autobiographical narratives (see , for a review), such that females tell more detailed, more elaborated, more emotionally expressive, and more relationally oriented personal narratives than do males. Equally importantly, we do not see gender differences in other forms of narratives, such as fictional stories (Szaflarski et al, 2012;Weiss, Kemmler, Deisenhammer, Fleischhacker, & Delazer, 2003) or narrative descriptions of witnessed events that are not personally significant (Jack, Leov, & Zajac, 2014). These patterns suggest that the observed gender differences are not related to narrative skills per se, but are rooted in gender differences in narrating important aspects of identity.…”

Intermediaries, vulnerable people and the quality of evidence

“…Typically, developing adolescents are not always perceived as having communication needs that warrant the appointment of an intermediary. This can result in adolescents being treated like robust adults, despite clear developmental and communication differences (Jack et al, 2014). Practitioners may not be aware of the differences in communication and memory retrieval ability of vulnerable people or the effects that trauma can have upon communication.…”

Opinions of legal professionals: Comparing child and adult witnesses’ memory report capabilities

“…Moreover, children's memory reports can be highly accurate, especially free recall soon after the event. In fact, many studies show that children's open free-recall accounts come close or are equal to those of adults with respect to report accuracy, often at 85-90% correct (e.g., Allwood, Innes-Ker, Holmgren, & Fredin, 2008;Jack, Leov, & Zajack, 2014;Pipe, Lamb, Orbach, & Esplin, 2004). However, of importance, children's free recall is usually less complete compared to that of adults (e.g., Allwood et al, 2008;Knutsson, Allwood, & Johansson, 2011;Poole & White, 1991), requiring the use of additional open and closed questions to increase the forensic usefulness of the report.…”