magazine issue 1 2015 / Issue 24

Children are poor witnesses. Or are they?

• written by Nathalie Brackmann, Henry Otgaar, Melanie Sauerland & Harald Merckelbach
• edited by Jay Wood

Loftus, E. F., Miller, D. G., & Burns, H. J. (1978). Semantic integration of verbal information into a visual memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 4, 19–31. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.4.1.19

Mason, M. A. (1995). The child sex abuse syndrome: The other major issue in State of New Jersey v. Margaret Kelly Michaels. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 1, 399–410. doi:10.1037/1076-8971.1.2.399

Otgaar, H., Candel, I., Merckelbach, H., & Wade, K. A. (2009). Abducted by a UFO: Prevalence information affects young children’s false memories for an implausible event. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23, 115–125. doi:10.1002/acp.1445

Otgaar, H., Howe, M. L., Peters, M., Smeets, T., & Moritz, S. (2014). The production of spontaneous false memories across childhood. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 121, 28–41. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2013.11.019

Otgaar, H., Howe, M. L., Smeets, T., Brackmann, N., & Fissette, A. (2014). Changing developmental trends in suggestion-induced false memories. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Principe, G. F., Guiliano, S., & Root, C. (2008). Rumor mongering and remembering: How rumors originating in children’s inferences can affect memory. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 99, 135–155. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2007.10.009

Principe, G. F., Kanaya, T., Ceci, S. J., & Singh, M. (2006). Believing is seeing how rumors can engender false memories in preschoolers. Psychological Science, 17, 243–248. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01692.x

Principe, G. F., & Schindewolf, E. (2012). Natural conversations as a source of false memories in children: Implications for the testimony of young witnesses. Developmental Review, 32, 205–223. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2012.06.003

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Ross, D. F., Marsil, D. F., Benton, T. R., Hoffman, R., Warren, A. R., Lindsay, R. C. L., & Metzger, R. (2006). Children’s susceptibility to misidentifying a familiar bystander from a lineup: When younger is better. Law and Human Behavior, 30, 249–257. doi:10.1007/s10979-006-9034-z

Schade, B., & Harschneck, M. (2000). Die BGH-Entscheidung im Rückblick auf die Wormser Missbrauchsprozesse. Konsequenzen für die Glaubhaftigkeitsbegutachtung aus der Sicht des psychologischen Gutachters und des Strafverteidigers [The Federal Court of Justice decision in retrospect of the Wormser abuse trials. Consequences for the credibility assessment from the perspective of the psychological expert and the defence lawyer]. Praxis der Rechtspsychologie, 10, 28-47.

Schreiber, N., Bellah, L. D., Martinez, Y., McLaurin, K. A., Strok, R., Garven, S., & Wood, J. M. (2006). Suggestive interviewing in the McMartin Preschool and Kelly Michaels daycare abuse cases: A case study. Social Influence, 1, 16–47. doi:10.1080/15534510500361739

Varendonck, J. (1911). Les témoignages d’enfants dans un procès retentissant [The testimony of children in a famous trial]. Archives de Psychologie, 11, 129-171.

Wade, K. A., Garry, M., Read, J. D., & Lindsay, D. S. (2002). A picture is worth a thousand lies: Using false photographs to create false childhood memories. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9, 597–603. doi:10.3758/BF03196318