Posted by Christine:

The purpose of the study is to learn more about children’s ability to report true or false statements of an event. We want to find out how accurate children’s memory can be, and their ability to reveal or conceal information. Also, we wish to examine how well adults can tell the difference between true and untrue reports.

The study consists of two parts: a home visit, and a visit to the lab. First, a research assistant (Christine Saykaly or Sarah Yachison) would come to your home and take part in some activities such as doing some puzzles, a card sorting task, and play with blocs. Children will be asked to either be truthful about the events that occurred, asked to conceal some events that occurred, or asked to fabricate some details about the interaction. One week later, you and your child will be asked to come to
McGill University to take part in the second part of the project, an interview session.

Children will be interviewed by two different research assistants. The first will ask free-recall questions and then specific questions (e.g., to repeat the details in reverse order). This part is video recorded. Later, videoclips (edited only to show parts of the interview, excluding any parts that may contain identifying information) will be shown to adult participants to see if they can tell which children are telling the truth, and which children may have concealed or fabricated information. Afterwards, you and your child will have time to talk to the researchers and ask questions about the study. Children will also be told what the study is about (why we are doing this, and how they are helping children who have to go to court and testify) and will have the opportunity to tell us what they think about it all. The children will receive a toy prize and $20 for participating in the study.

The home visit takes approximately 45 minutes, and the visit to the lab will take no longer than 30 minutes. Children will receive prizes at the homevisit, and received $20 compensation at the lab visit.

If you are interested and would like to schedule an appointment, or have any questions, please dont hesitate to email Christine at christine.saykaly@mail.mcgill.ca or call her at the lab at 514-398-8059

Best,
Christine Saykaly, M.A.