The development of children's source-monitoring skills

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Many crimes against children (e.g., sexual abuse) leave little physical evidence and have no witnesses, and so the victims' accounts often constitute the most important evidence. Sometimes, children are victims of multiple crimes (e.g., repeated abuse) and successful prosecution is possible only if children remember the details about each individual incident. Research has shown, however, that children sometimes confuse memories of different events, reporting details from one event as if they had happened in another. Even when there has been a single crime, children may confuse their memories of the crime with information that was merely suggested to them when talking about what happened. Prosecution is difficult when children confuse memories of different events and, until we understand why confusions occur, it is difficult to know how to prevent them. I will systematically investigate why 3-10 year olds confuse memories of different events. Children may not, for example, realize that they are making errors and so do not correct themselves. Alternatively, children may not pay attention to the differences between events, believing them to be identical. In the proposed research, children will experience several events and later be interviewed to see what they remember. Various aspects of the events and interviews will be manipulated to isolate the exact causes of children's difficulties. Each set of studies focuses on competency in one specific area (e.g., memory, awareness of one's own errors, ability to try new strategies). In addition, children will be given a battery of measures to assess the development of other skills (e.g., language) believed to be related to the ability to discriminate between memories. The research will indicate which specific skills are necessary to prevent confusions and at what ages children master these skills. We will have a richer understanding of children's memory because their confusions will be studied in the context of other developmental milestones. The results will provide accurate expectations of child witnesses and suggest novel interviewing techniques that minimize confusions. These developments will increase the chances of prosecuting crimes against children.