Outline and evaluate research into the

effects of age on eyewitness testimony

There has been a lot of research into what effects eyewitness testimony
(EWT), one of these being age.
In 2001, Poole and Lindsay conducted an experiment to find out whether
children could source monitor. They got children (aged 3-8) to watch a
science demonstration and then listen to a story afterwards. When
questioned later on, they found that the younger children got the
information sources mixed up and so they wouldnt make effective
eyewitnesses. However, the younger children would lack schemas and the
vocabulary needed to describe the science experiment. This means that
they wouldnt have been able to describe the experiment when asked to
recall it, and therefore would make this experiment less valid.
Anastasi and Rhodes performed an experiment in 2006 to see if recall is
better when identifying people from the same age range (own age bias).
They showed 24 photos to 3 age groups and then later they were shown
48 photos and had to identify the original 24. They found that generally
the younger age groups were better at recall, but all age groups were
better at recognising their own age group. They concluded that its easier
to recall people in your own age range. This experiment was conducted in
a lab, so lacks mundane realism and so would have affected the results.
Also, individual differences would have affected the results because some
of the photos may look like people you know, so recall would be better.
Yarmey conducted an experiment to see if age affects recall ability (1993).
He got a young woman to stop people in the street and chat to them for
15 seconds and then 2 minutes later they were asked to recall the
characteristics of the woman. They conducted this on 651 participants
(pps). The results showed that all age groups performed similarly, but
younger people were more confident in their recall, and so concluded that
age doesnt affect EWT. This study was a field experiment and this means
that the pps responses would have been more ecologically valid than if it
was conducted in a laboratory which lacks mundane realism. However, it
lacks reliability because it would be hard to repeat and own age bias
suggests that the younger pps would have found it easier to recall the
young woman, so the results would also be less valid.