Similarities and differences in eyewitness testimonies of children who directly versus vicariously experience stress

This study tested questions of ecological validity by comparing the eyewitn ess testimonies of children directly experiencing a painful inoculation exp erience with those of children in a yoked-control group who vicariously exp erienced the inoculation on videotape. The study involved 86 5-year-olds, d ivided between 2 groups: the experiential and yoked control. The experienti al group was followed through a health department with a video camera as th ey received diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (DPT), and oral polio inoculatio ns. They were tested immediately, 20 min later, and 1 month later. Each chi ld in the yoked-control group merely watched the videotape of his or her co unterpart in the experiential group, made similar ratings of pain, and was given the same tests and suggestions. Stress and personal experience affect ed items congruent with the stressor to produce flashbulb-like memories, wi th slower rates of forgetting for some items, such as nurse identifications , and greater suggestibility for other items, such as estimates of needle s ize. These and the apparently conflicting results in the literature were sa id to make sense when personally experienced stress was viewed from S.-A. C hristianson's (1992) interactive perspective rather than as a single ubiqui tous variable.