Maggie Bruck - US grants

DESCRIPTION: In most theoretical models, memory mechanisms involved in encoding, storage, and retrieval of information, as well as psychosocial characteristics associated with compliance and acquiescence are assumed to play an important causative role in autobiographical recall and suggestibility. Because children with mental retardation (MR) display a number of basic memory deficits and are also often compliant and acquiescent, they should have poor recall of their past and be highly suggestible. However, little is known about these aspects of memory in children with MR. The present proposal attempts to fill in these gaps by drawing on the substantial developmental literature on the accuracy of recall of personally experienced events and the suggestive factors that distort the recall of children with normal intelligence. Two longitudinal, cross-sectional studies, with similar designs are proposed. In both studies recall and suggestibility of children between the ages of 7 and 10 with mild retardation with no known etiology (idiopathic) will be compared to children with normal intelligence who are either matched for chronological or for mental age. Study 1 examines autobiographical recall and misinformation effects. Study 2 examines autobiographical recall and interrogative suggestibility. In both studies, children participate in a staged event. At various delay periods after the event, children recall the event and are also suggestively interviewed. Traditional memory tasks and social compliance tasks are also administered. The data will be analyzed to examine (a) the completeness and accuracy of recall of children with MR, (b) suggestibility of children with MR, (c) developmental changes in recall and suggestibility of children with MR, and (d) the relationships between traditional memory tests and tests of compliance with suggestibility and autobiographical recall. The results of the study will address important clinical concerns and theoretical issues. First, they will provide medical, forensic, mental health and educational professionals with scientific data on the interviewing strategies that allow children with MR to provide the most accurate and complete accounts of their past experiences. The results will begin to provide a scientific foundation for the construction of standardized schedules or guidelines for interviewing children with MR about their past experiences. At present, no such instruments exist. On a theoretical level, the results of the study will provide data on the role that cognitive and psychosocial factors play in autobiographical memory and suggestibility.

The study of suggestibility in young children became an important field of study because of the practical problems involving the accuracy of children's reports in the legal arena. A substantial amount of research in the past 15 years has demonstrated the interviewing conditions that produce the most accurate as well as the least accurate reports from young children. There has been, however, less success in identifying the cognitive, emotional, or social characteristics that make some children more suggestible than others; this may be due to the fact that the characteristics that predispose children to be influenced by suggestion change with age. Supported by funds from the National Science Foundation, Dr. Maggie Bruck will address these issues. This project examines the development of metasuggestibility (awareness that a person's report or memory of their personal experiences can be tainted by another person's statements or suggestions) in middle childhood and the degree to which this metacognitive skill is related to children's suggestibility. Although research has primarily focused on the suggestibility of preschool children, a few recent studies have included older children (middle childhood 6-11 year olds), producing the surprising finding that these children also show relatively high rates of suggestibility (although lower than those of preschoolers). The present research focuses on this age group to examine age-related mechanisms that underlie suggestibility, testing the idea that these mechanisms change as a function of development. Study 1 involves three major components: (1) To measure metasuggestibility, children view a filmed skit in which a child actor gives inaccurate answers to an adult's suggestive questions; the children are then asked to explain why this actor produced the inaccurate reports. (2) Relationships between metasuggestibility and children's performance on other metacognitive skills (detection of logical inconsistency, beliefs about memory, and understanding of others' minds) are analyzed for developmental changes. (3) The relationship between children's actual performance when interviewed suggestively and their performance on the metasuggestibility task is examined. Study 2, an intervention study, explores if metasuggestibility training decreases children's suggestibility. The major aim in both studies is to examine whether children must first realize that suggestive questions can distort memory in order to actively resist misleading questions.

This research will broaden the focus of suggestibility research from preschool to middle childhood. By so doing, it overcomes an incorrect assumption that one should not be concerned about memory distortion among older children. It will examine whether children with low levels of metasuggestibility are also the most suggestible children, as well as examine if training children to be aware of suggestion in interviews can reduce their own suggestibility. The results of these studies will have important implications for constructing scientifically validated interviews that produce the most accurate reports from children and for constructing instruments to detect children who are prone to suggestive factors. These instruments can be adapted for use in schools, mental health, medical, and forensic contexts.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Human line drawings (HLD's) are commonly used by professionals who interview children about suspected sexual abuse; however, there is little scientific information about their feabilitity, The major objective of this proposal is to determine within a cognitive developmental framework the benefits and risks of using HLDs in interviews with young children who are questioned about "touching". Studies are designed to test the following hypotheses: I. HLD's increase the amount of accurate information but not the number of errors that children provide about a past touching event. II. HLD's produce the greatest benefits and fewest risks when introduced after a complete verbal interview. III. The physical characteristics of HLD's influence their feasibility; HLD's that decrease spatial orientation problems are most effective. IV. HLD's are most effective with young children who undertand symbolic representation; there will be little incremental benefit or risk over traditional interviews with no drawings for the oldest children. Two sets of studies will be carried out with children between the ages of 3-8 years. The first set of studies includes children from the community who participate in a magic show in our laboratory; during the magic show children are innocuously touched in a number of places. The second set of studies includes children who attend specific medical clinics and receive genital and/or anal examinations. Two weeks after the magic show/medical examination children will be interviewed and asked questions about events that did occur as well as events that did not occur. Children will be randomized to different interviewing conditions: verbal interview followed by HLD's or HLD's followed by verbal interview. In some studies the suggestiveness of the HLD segment of the intervew will vary; in other studies, the physical characteristics of the HLD's will vary. If children provide additional information with HLD's (not provided in verbal interviews) and do not provide inaccurate information, then HLD's would be considered feasible for interviewing children. The results of these studies will be important for professionals who interview children about sexual abuse or about their bodies in general. They will provide scientific information about the risks and benefits of a promising technique for young children who often do not readily provide important information when asked for it. In addition, guidelines for the most effective uses of the instrument will be provided. The results of the two sets of studies will also address theoretical issues concerning the development of symbolic representation in young children; the unique contribution of this proposal is that the focus is on symbolic representation of the human body rather than on symbolic representation of other physical objects in space. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]