The effects of repeated experience on children's suggestibility

The effect of suggestive questions on 3- to 5-year-old and 6- to g-year-old children's recall of the final occurrence of a repeated event was examined . The event included fu;ed (identical) items as well as variable items wher e a new instantiation represented the item in each occurrence of the series . Relative to reports of children who participated in a single occurrence, children's reports about fixed items of the repeated event were more accura te and less contaminated by false suggestions. For variable items, repeated Experience led to a decline in memory of the specific occurrence; however, there was no increase in susceptibility to suggestions about details that had not occurred. Most errors after repeated experience were intrusions of details from nontarget occurrences. Although younger children and children who were interviewed a while after the event were more suggestible, respect ively, than older children and those interviewed soon after the event, repe ated experience attenuated these effects.