No gesture too small: An investigation into the ability of gestural information to mislead eyewitness accounts by 5-8-year-olds.
The accuracy of eyewitness interviews has legal and clinical implications within the criminal justice system. Leading verbal suggestions have been shown to give rise to false memories and inaccurate testimonies in children, but only a small body of research exists regarding non-verbal communication. The present study examined whether 5-8-year-olds in the UK could be misled about their memory of an event through exposure to leading gestural information, which suggested an incorrect response, using a variety of question and gesture types. Results showed that leading gestures corrupted participants’ memory, with the level of centrality (central details such as what and how, compared to peripheral descriptive detail) and saliency (how visible and expressive a gesture is) significantly affecting the level to which participants were misled, and even subtle gestures demonstrating a strong misleading influence. We discuss the implications of these findings for the guidelines governing eyewitness interviews.