ABSTRACT
Preschoolers can report memories of personal experience accurately in many circumstances (Fivush, 1997). However, the reality of forensic interviewing practices is that individuals must often provide eyewitness accounts after others have suggested inaccurate information (e.g., Ceci & Bruck, 1995). These suggestions seem to reduce the accuracy of preschoolers’ reports more than the reports of older children and adults. For example, 3- and 4-year-olds acquiesce immediately to an interviewer’s suggestions more often than older children do (Goodman, Quas, Batterman-Faunce, Riddlesberger, & Kuhn, 1994; Goodman, Rudy, Bottoms, & Aman, 1990; for a review, see Ceci & Bruck, 1993). In addition, research on misinformation effects shows that the reports of both adults and children are typically less accurate for details when they are misled than when they are not (Ceci, Ross, & Toglia, 1987; Loftus, Hoffman, & Wagenaar, 1992; Loftus, Miller & Burns, 1978; McCloskey & Zaragoza, 1985; Toglia, Ross, Ceci, & Hembrooke 1992; Zaragoza, McCloskey, & Jarnis, 1987); however, this effect is especially strong for 3- and 4-year-olds (Ceci et al., 1987; Toglia etal., 1992, but see Zaragoza, Dahlgren, & Muench, 1992, for a failure to replicate).
