Legal Research

Children's Testimony May Be More Accurate Than Adult's

A recent study finds that children may offer more accurate court testimony than adults. The study was conducted by two Cornell University professors: Valerie Reyna, human development professor, and Chuck Brainerd, human development and law school professor.

Science Daily reports:

They say children depend more heavily on a part of the mind that records, "what actually happened," while adults depend more on another part of the mind that records, "the meaning of what happened." As a result, they say, adults are more susceptible to false memories, which can be extremely problematic in court cases.

Reyna and Brainerd's findings are summarized in a new book, The Science of False Memory, published by Oxford University Press.

Source: Boing Boing

Full post as published by WisBlawg - From the UW Law Library on March 18, 2008 (boomark / email).