One common and unfortunately overlooked obstacle to the detection of sexual abuse is non‐disclosure by children. Non‐disclosure in forensic interviews may be expressed via concealment in response to recall questions or via active denials in response to recognition (e.g., yes/no) questions. In two studies, we evaluated whether adults' ability to discern true and false denials of wrongdoing by children varied as a function of the types of interview question the children were asked. Results suggest that adults are not good at detecting deceptive denials of wrongdoing by children, even when the adults view children narrate their experiences in response to recall questions rather than provide one word answers to recognition questions. In Study 1, adults exhibited a consistent “truth bias,” leading them toward believing children, regardless of whether the children's denials were true or false. In Study 2, adults were given base‐rate information about the occurrence of true and false denials (50% of each). The information eliminated the adults' truth bias but did not improve their overall detection accuracy, which still hovered near chance. Adults did, however, perceive children's denials as slightly more credible when they emerged in response to recall rather than recognition questions, especially when children were honestly denying wrongdoing. Results suggest the need for caution when evaluating adults' judgments of children's veracity when the children fail to disclose abuse.

中文翻译：

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检测儿童对错误行为的正确和错误否认：问题类型和基本比率知识的影响

儿童无法公开发现性虐待的一个常见但不幸的是被忽略的障碍。可以通过对回忆问题的隐瞒或对认可（例如，是/否）问题的主动拒绝来表达对法医采访的不公开。在两项研究中，我们评估了成年人辨别儿童做错事的正确与否的能力是否随询问孩子的面试问题的类型而变化。结果表明，即使成年人认为儿童叙述自己的经历以回应回忆问题，而不是提供一个单字答案来回答识别问题，成年人也不擅长发现儿童对儿童做错事的欺骗性否认。在研究1中，成年人表现出始终如一的“真实偏见”，导致他们朝着相信孩子，不管孩子们的否认是对还是错。在研究2中，为成年人提供了有关真假拒绝发生率的基准信息（每种情况的50％）。这些信息消除了成年人的真实偏见，但并没有提高他们的整体检测准确性，这仍然徘徊在机会附近。但是，当成年人出现是为了回应回忆而不是承认问题时，成年人确实认为儿童的否认可信度更高，尤其是当儿童诚实地否认有不当行为时。结果表明，在评估成年人对儿童的真实性的判断时，如果儿童没有发现虐待，则需要谨慎。这些信息消除了成年人的真实偏见，但并没有提高他们的整体检测准确性，这仍然徘徊在机会附近。但是，当成年人出现是为了回应回忆而不是承认问题时，成年人确实认为儿童的否认可信度更高，尤其是当儿童诚实地否认有不当行为时。结果表明，在评估成年人对儿童的真实性的判断时，如果儿童没有发现虐待，则需要谨慎。这些信息消除了成年人的真实偏见，但并没有提高他们的整体检测准确性，这仍然徘徊在机会附近。但是，当成年人出现是为了回应回忆而不是承认问题时，成年人确实认为儿童的否认可信度更高，尤其是当儿童诚实地否认有不当行为时。结果表明，在评估成年人对儿童的真实性的判断时，如果儿童没有发现虐待，则需要谨慎。