Over a decade of research on children's eyewitness testimony: What have we learned? Where do we go from here?

Scientific understanding of children's eyewitness memory has advanced colossally over the last 15 years. After more than a decade of intense research, it is possible to reflect on empirical knowledge gained about memory accuracy and interviewing strategies, and to propose directions for future inquiry. In the present article, past studies of the effects of leading questions, repeated interviews, and interview context are reviewed. The contribution of leading questions to allegations of satanic ritual abuse is addressed, as is the contribution of individual-difference factors, such as abuse history, to memory performance. The dilemma of designing an interview for children which simultaneously reduces both the dangers of false reports and the dangers of lack of disclosure is discussed. It is proposed that interviews should not be judged dichotomously as either leading or non-leading, but rather viewed as falling along a 'leadingness continuum'. To guide future research, a call is made to integrate complex applied and theoretical issues in the study of child witnesses. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.