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The Potential Ambiguity of Negative Questions in Children's Testimony

Breanne E. Wylie et al.

Applied Cognitive Psychology2026https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.70182article
AJG 2ABDC B
Weight
0.50

Abstract

This study assessed the potential ambiguity of child witnesses' responses to different types of negative questions. We coded the testimony of 134 5‐ to 17‐year‐olds for five types of questions that included negative terms ( N = 3542), including negative declarative questions (e.g., “You weren't scared?”), three subtypes of tag questions (e.g., “You weren't scared, right?”), and high negatives (e.g., “Weren't you scared?”). With the exception of high negatives, most responses were unelaborated yeses and noes, which rendered children's responses potentially ambiguous. Examination of children's elaborations demonstrated interchangeability for three of the question types, such that their unelaborated yes and no responses could convey either a positive (“Yes, I was scared”/“No, I was scared”) or negative response (“Yes, I wasn't scared”/“No, I wasn't scared”). Attorneys sought to disambiguate less than 1% of potentially ambiguous responses.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.70182

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@article{breanne2026,
  title        = {{The Potential Ambiguity of Negative Questions in Children's Testimony}},
  author       = {Breanne E. Wylie et al.},
  journal      = {Applied Cognitive Psychology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.70182},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

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