Hearsay Exceptions: Adjusting the Ratio of Intuition to Psychological Science

Myers explores hearsay exeptions by examining three exceptions: excited utterances, statements for purposes of diagnosis or treatment, and the residual hearsay exception. The focus is child declarants, and these exceptions play key roles in child abuse litigation

Developmental differences in the effects of repeated interviews and interviewer bias on young children's event memory and false reports.

The present study investigated developmental differences in the effects of repeated interviews and interviewer bias on children’s memory and suggestibility. Three- and 5-year-olds were singly or repeatedly interviewed about a play event by a highly biased or control interviewer. Children interviewed once by the biased interviewer after a long delay made the most errors. Children interviewed repeatedly, regardless of interviewer bias, were more accurate and less likely to falsely claim that they played with a man. In free recall, among children questioned once after a long delay by the biased interviewer, 5-year-olds were more likely than were 3-year-olds to claim falsely that they played with a man. However, in response to direct questions, 3-year-olds were more easily manipulated into implying that they played with him. Findings suggest that interviewer bias is particularly problematic when children’s memory has weakened. In contrast, repeated interviews that occur a short time after a to-be-remembered event do not necessarily increase children’s errors, even when interviews include misleading questions and interviewer bias. Implications for developmental differences in memory and suggestibility are discussed

“That never happened”: Adults' discernment of children's true and false memory reports.

Adults’ evaluations of children’s reports can determine whether legal proceedings are undertaken and whether they ultimately lead to justice. The current study involved 92 undergraduates and 35 laypersons who viewed and evaluated videotaped interviews of 3- and 5-year-olds providing true or false memory reports. The children’s reports fell into the following categories based on a 2 (event type: true vs. false) × 2 (child report: assent vs. denial) factorial design: Accurate reports, false reports, accurate denials, and false denials. Results revealed that adults were generally better able to correctly judge accurate reports, accurate denials, and false reports compared to false denials: For false denials, adults were, on average, “confident” that the event had not occurred, even though the event had in fact been experienced. Participant age predicted performance. These findings underscore the greater difficulty adults have in evaluating young children’s false denials compared to other types of reports. Implications for law-related situations in which adults are called upon to evaluate children’s statements are discussed

False Memory for Trauma-Related DRM Lists in Adolescents and Adults with Histories of Child Sexual Abuse

The purpose of the present research was to examine Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) false memory for trauma-related and nontrauma-related lists in adolescents and adults with and without documented histories of child sexual abuse (CSA). Individual differences in psychopathology and adult attachment were also explored. Participants were administered free recall and recognition tests after hearing CSA, negative, neutral, and positive DRM lists. In free recall, CSA and negative lists produced the most false memory. In sharp contrast, for recognition, CSA lists enjoyed the highest d’ scores. CSA-group adolescents who evinced greater PTSD symptoms had higher rates of false memory compared to: 1) nonCSA-group adolescents with higher PTSD symptom scores (free recall), and 2) CSA-group adolescents with lower PTSD symptom scores (recognition). Regression analyses revealed that individuals with higher PTSD scores and greater fearful-avoidant attachment tendencies showed less proficient memory monitoring for CSA lists. Implications for trauma and memory development and for translational research are discussed