Laura Melnyk | King's University College at Western University (original) (raw)

Papers by Laura Melnyk

SUMMARY The relative role of the timing and repetition of misinformation on the accuracy of child... more SUMMARY The relative role of the timing and repetition of misinformation on the accuracy of children's recall was examined in two experiments. Kindergarten children participated in a magic show and about 40 days later had a memory test. Between the magic show and the memory test, the children were suggestively interviewed either one time in a relatively 'early' interview (temporally closer to the magic show than the memory test) or a relatively 'late' interview (closer to the memory test than the magic show), or in both suggestive interviews. The timing of the suggestive interviewing was manipulated so that the interview was temporally distant from the event or memory test or temporally close to the event or memory test. Repeated interviewing heightened misinformation effects only when the children received the two interview sessions temporally close to the event and memory test. A basic principle of memory is that repetition promotes recall (Ebbinghaus, 1885/1913). The research to support this principle concerns the beneficial effects of repeating accurate information on participants' recall. There is however, little direct evidence to examine the corollary of this principle, namely the repetition of erroneous information (misinforma-tion) promotes memory distortion. The present study examines this hypothesis with respect to one particular type of memory distortion, false reports that are the product of suggestive interviews in which misinformation has been presented. It examines the cumulative effect of repeated misinformation on memory distortion in young children. Repeated neutral interviews (where there is no misinformation) may confer a number of positive effects on recall. A review of the developmental literature reveals that it can consolidate memory for an event and thus protect against forgetting

One component of metasuggestibility is the understanding that a person's statements can influence... more One component of metasuggestibility is the understanding that a person's statements can influence another person's reports. The purpose of the present study was to examine the development of this understanding in school-aged children. We produced a short video in which a boy makes a false allegation about being hit following an adult's suggestive interview. Children aged 6–13 years (N ¼ 196) watched the video and answered open-ended and forced-choice questions about why the boy made a false allegation. The 6-and 7-year-olds performed poorly on all question types, whereas the 12-and 13-year-olds were at ceiling. There were developmental increases in metasuggestibility between 8 and 11 years. Our findings indicate that metasuggestibility undergoes prolonged development well into the school years. Implications for child witness training programs are discussed.

Preschool children (aged 3 to 6 years) participated in a magic show. Later, the children were giv... more Preschool children (aged 3 to 6 years) participated in a magic show. Later, the children were given repeated true and false reminders about the show. Half the children were asked to draw these true and false reminders (drawing condition) and half the children were asked questions about the reminders but not to draw them (question condition). Later, children in the drawing condition had better recall of true reminders than children in the question group; however, children in the drawing group also recalled more false reminders than children in the question group. Finally, although children in the drawing group had better memory of the source of the reminders than children in the question group, both groups equally reported that the false reminders actually happened. Obtaining complete and accurate reports of past events from young children is problematic for several interrelated reasons. First, when young children are asked open-ended questions, or asked to provide a free narrative of an event, their responses tend to be sparse. Although they can be quite accurate when there is

SUMMARY Over the last decade, there has been a significant growth in the study of individual diff... more SUMMARY Over the last decade, there has been a significant growth in the study of individual differences factors predicting children's suggestibility. In this paper, we synthesize the results of 69 studies examining the relationship of demographic factors (socioeconomic status and gender), cognitive factors (intelligence, language, memory, theory of mind, executive functioning, behavioural ratings of distractibility, and creativity), and psycho-social factors (social engagement, self concept/self-efficacy, stress/emotional arousal/state anxiety, maternal attachment styles, parent-child relationship, parenting styles, temperament, and mental health) and children's suggestibility. We found that for cognitive factors, language ability and creativity were fairly consistently related to suggestibility. The highest correlations for psycho-social factors and suggestibility were obtained for measures of self-concept/self-efficacy, maternal attachment, and the parent-child relationship. Implications for future research and mechanisms underlying children's suggestibility are discussed. In 1997, we wrote a review paper on individual differences in children's suggestibility (Bruck, Ceci, & Melnyk, 1997). Most of the paper focused on external (interviewing) factors that increased or decreased suggestibility specifically among preschoolers. A small section of that paper reviewed the existing literature on 'internal factors' that included cognitive and psycho-social factors. At that writing, there were very few empirical studies examining individual differences in suggestibility; our paper only included 20 references of such studies and most of these focused on the relationship of suggestibility with intelligence and memory. Seven years later, the number of studies in this area has greatly increased and we update our review of the literature. In this paper, we focus on the association of children's suggestibility with cognitive, psycho-social, and to a lesser degree, demographic variables. Studies of individual difference are important for theoretical and applied purposes. Theoretically, they address issues of mechanisms underlying suggestibility effects. For example, there is ongoing debate about the relative importance of social versus cognitive

The authors examined reasoning following the terrorist attacks carried out in London in July 2005... more The authors examined reasoning following the terrorist attacks carried out in London in July 2005. They tested participants in London (United Kingdom), Manchester (United Kingdom), and London (Canada) within 1 week of the attacks and again 6 months later. Participants reasoned about syllogisms of 3 types: neutral, generally emotional, and emotionally related to terrorism. Participants also provided self-reports of emotion and risk estimates. Participants generally reasoned more accurately on neutral problems, compared with generally emotional and terrorism-related problems. However, participants in London (United Kingdom) provided more logically valid answers when reasoning about problems related to terrorism and were less likely to answer on the basis of beliefs, despite reporting higher levels of emotions.

In two experiments, we examined whether post-event information (PEI) about true and false events ... more In two experiments, we examined whether post-event information (PEI) about true and false events persisted in children's reports after approximately 1 year. In Experiment 1, 4-to 6-year-olds were given PEI and then were given memory tests 2 weeks and 15 months later. Although PEI appeared in free recall at the initial testing, it decreased substantially by the long-term test. In contrast, on recognition tasks the children showed facilitation and misinformation effects at initial and follow-up tests. Experiment 2 replicated lasting misinformation and facilitation effects in recognition memory among 4-to 9-year-olds who were tested after 1-week and 10-month delays. We conclude that true and false reminders about an experienced event continue to affect children's memory approximately 1 year later.

In this article, we describe several " families " of variables that may account for reliable vari... more In this article, we describe several " families " of variables that may account for reliable variation in children's suggestibility. Specifically, we begin by discussing factors that are external to the organism (e.g., various forms of biased interviewing such as visualization inductions, accusatory tone, repeated yes/no questioning) that could explain why at any age studied, large suggestibility effects are produced in some situations but not in others. Following this, we discuss research on factors that are internal to the organism that may be at the source of individual differences in suggestibility-proneness (e.g., IQ memory strength, relevant content knowledge). We conclude by postulating a framework in which multiple and complex interactions among cognitive, social, personality, and biological factors converge to make some children and some situations more or less suggestible than others. Direct all correspondenca to: Maggie Bruck,

Law and Human Behavior, 2009

Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2004

Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2011

Law and Human Behavior, 2009

Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2004

Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2011