The credibility of children's testimony: Can children control the accuracyof their memory reports?

In previous work with adults (A. Koriat & M. Goldsmith, 1994, 1996c), it wa s shown that people can enhance the accuracy of their testimony substantial ly when they (a) are effective in monitoring the correctness of their answe rs, (b) are free to control their reporting accordingly (i.e., to decide wh ich pieces of information to volunteer and which to withhold), and (c) are given incentives for accurate reporting. A theoretical model was developed, which specifies the critical role of metacognitive monitoring and control processes in mediating free-report memory accuracy. The present study appli es that model to examine the strategic regulation of memory accuracy by chi ldren. Three experiments indicate that both younger (ages 7 to 9) and older (ages 10 to 12) children can enhance the accuracy of their testimony by sc reening out wrong answers under free-report conditions but suggest a develo pmental trend in the level of memory accuracy that is thereby achieved. The implications of the results for the dependability of children's testimony in legal settings are discussed. (C) 2001 Academic Press.