Research

My expertise is in forensic psychology. Most of my research combines developmental, forensic, and cognitive psychology to investigate issues in children's memory. I am particularly interested in studying interviewing techniques to facilitate young children's autobiographical recall and changes in face recognition and lineup performance. Recent work in my lab examines further topics in psychology and law, including adults' eyewitness performance, mock juror decision making, and criminal responsibility.

Fun fact: I just use Melnyk for publications

* = undergraduate student under my supervision

Melnyk, L., & *Hobin, G. (2025, June). Canadians’ understanding of the Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder defence. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Psychological Association, St. John's, NL.

*Hunter, H., & Melnyk Gribble, L. (2024, March). Are perceptions of defendant testimony influenced by legal attitudes and legal expertise? Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Los Angeles, CA.

*Murphy, J., & Melnyk Gribble, L. (2024, March). Do defendant testimony decisions influence jury verdicts? Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Los Angeles, CA.

Melnyk Gribble, L. (2019, July). Assessing the reliability of abuse allegations. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, Stavern, Norway.

Melnyk Gribble, L., & *Skikavich, N. (2019, June). A "head to head" comparison of modified lineup procedures for child witnesses. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Cape Cod, MA.

Melnyk Gribble, L. & *Skikavich, N. (2018, July). Comparing lineup procedures to facilitate children's face recognition. Paper presented at the presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science, St. John's, NL.

Melnyk Gribble, L., & *Skikavich, N. (2018, March). Developmental changes in children's accuracy on lineup tasks: Comparing the elimination and the wildcard lineup procedure. Paper presented at the presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Memphis, TN.

Melnyk Gribble, L., & *Romanchych, E.L. (2017, April). Face encoding deficits underlie preschool children's high false identification rates in lineups. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Austin, TX.

Melnyk Gribble, L., & *Skikavich, N. (2017, March). Comparing the wildcard and elimination lineup procedures with child eyewitnesses. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Seattle, WA.

Melnyk Gribble, L. (2016, June). Parental questioning as a source of interviewer bias. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, Buckinghamshire, London, UK.

*Wilson, C.A., & Melnyk Gribble, L. (2016, May). Removal of glasses impairs face recognition, but only for certain types of glasses. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, Chicago, IL.

Melnyk Gribble, L., & *Wilson, C.A. (2016, March). Eyes on the disguise: How does changing the type of eyeglasses influence face recognition? Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Atlanta, GA.

Melnyk Gribble, L., & *Rempel, C. (2016, March). Preschool children’s suggestibility is consistent 1-week and 4-months following post-event misinformation. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Atlanta, GA.

*Ewanation, L., & Melnyk, L. (2015, June). Identifying whether the mystery man or elimination lineup is most effective for child eyewitnesses. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Psychological Association, Ottawa, ON. 

Melnyk, L., & *Earhart, B. (2013, October). Preschool children's reports of frequency and temporal information for experienced events. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Memphis, TN.

Melnyk, L., & *den Dunnen, W. (2013, October). Changes in preschool children's reporting of temporal information. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Memphis, TN.

Melnyk, L., *Franch, J.A., & Gribble, P.L. (2013, May). Source confusion for online health information. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, Washington, DC.

Melnyk, L., *Lucyk, J.M., & Gribble, P.L. (2010, March). Describe the suspect: Systematic sources of error in person descriptions. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Vancouver, Canada.

Melnyk, L., & *Walsh, J.A. (2010, March). Preschool children's reports of frequency information in repeated events. In L.C. Malloy (Chair), Cognitive issues in children's testimony. Symposium presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Vancouver, Canada.

Melnyk, L., *Lucyk, J.M., & Gribble, P.L. (2009, July). Accuracy for estimating age, height and weight. Paper presented at the biennial conference of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Kyoto, Japan.

Melnyk, L., *Berman, J.M., & *Adachi, P.J.C. (2009, April). A cross-sectional examination of adolescents' eyewitness identification abilities. In L. Melnyk & K. London (Chairs), Adolescents: The neglected eyewitnesses. Symposium conducted at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO.

Melnyk, L. (2008, December). Applying psychology to facilitate students' learning. Invited keynote address for the Learning and Study Skills Association, Toronto, Canada.

Melnyk, L., & *Halabecki, K. (2008, June). Young child witnesses’ identification accuracy using the fast-elimination lineup procedure. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Psychological Association, Halifax, Canada.

Melnyk, L., & *Gibbons, S. (2008, March). Preschool children demonstrate the verbal overshadowing effect in face recognition. Paper presented at annual meeting of the the American Psychology-Law Society, Jacksonville, FL.

London, K., Bruck, M., Melnyk, L., Wright, D.B., & McGuire, K. (2007, July). Long-term effects of misinformation on children's memory reports. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Lewiston, ME. 

Blanchette, I., Richards, A., Melnyk, L., & Lavda, A. (2006, May). Logic and emotion after the London terrorist attacks: A tale of three cities. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, New York City. 

Melnyk, L., & *Halabecki, K. (2006, March). Does the fast elimination lineup procedure facilitate young children’s eyewitness identification? Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, St. Petersburg, FL.  

Melnyk, L., Bruck, M., London, K., & Poole, D.A. (2005, April). Metasuggestibility: Children's developing ability to understand suggestibility. In G. F. Principe (Chair), Believing is seeing: How knowledge, beliefs, and expectations can influence children's memory for their experiences. Symposium presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA. 

Joanisse, M.F., Melnyk, L., Mattar, A.A.G., Terry, A., & Gribble, P.L.  (2005, April). Procedural memory in children: A motor learning task reveals developmental differences in learning but not interference. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.

Gribble, P.L., Mattar, A.A.G., Terry, A., Melnyk, L., & Joanisse, M.F. (2004, April). Development of motor learning and consolidation: Adaptive representation of limb dynamics in children. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco, CA.

Melnyk, L., *Lamie, F.D., Jr., *Maloney, K., & *Keenan, K.L. (2004, March). Discrediting the source of misinformation decreases children's suggestibility. In L. Melnyk (Chair), Child witnesses. Paper session presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Scottsdale, AZ. 

Melnyk, L., *Lamie, F.D., Jr., *Kaiman, J.A., & *Wechzelberger, L. (2003, July). Does warning children about misinformation decrease suggestibility? In G. Mazzoni (Chair), Positive and negative effects of suggestion. Symposium presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Aberdeen, Scotland.  

Melnyk, L., & Bruck, M. (2003, June). The persistence of young children's false reports. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour, and Cognitive Science, Hamilton, Canada.  

Melnyk, L., & May, M. (2003, June). Children's preferences for museum activities and exhibits. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Psychological Association, Hamilton, Canada.  

Melnyk, L., & Bruck, M. (2003, April). Picture this: Imagery, imagination, and children's event reports. In L. Melnyk & B. Beck (Chairs), New directions in the study of children's memory and suggestibility. Symposium presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL.

Melnyk, L., & Bruck, M. (2003, April). Timing moderates the effects of repeated interviewing on the accuracy of children's recall. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL. 

Melnyk, L., & Bruck, M. (2002, August). Guided imagery promotes confabulation in 5- to 6-year-olds' false reports. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, Ottawa, Canada.

Melnyk, L., & Bruck, M. (1999, July). Interviewing children using imagery. In K.P. Roberts (Chair), Novel interviewing techniques: Effects on children's eyewitness reports.  Symposium conducted at the biennial meeting of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Boulder, CO.

Melnyk, L., & Bruck, M. (1999, April). Why does drawing increase children's suggestibility? Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Albuquerque, NM.

Bruck, M., Ceci, S.J., Melnyk, L., & Finkelberg, D. (1999, April). Interviewer bias creates tainted reports. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Albuquerque, NM.

Melnyk, L. (1998, October). Suggestibility in young children. In K. Braun (Chair), The deleterious act of recollection. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the Association for Consumer Research, Montréal, Canada.

Melnyk, L., Bruck, M., & Ceci, S.J. (1997, August). The effect of drawing on children's event reports. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL.

Melnyk, L., Bruck, M., & Ceci, S.J. (1997, July). Win, lose, or draw: The effect of drawing on children's suggestibility and source monitoring ability. In A.M. Crossman (Chair), Psycho-legal implications of false memory research. Symposium conducted at the biennial meeting of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, Toronto, Canada.

Bruck, M., Ceci, S.J., & Melnyk, L. (1997). External and internal sources of variation in the creation of false reports in children. Learning and Individual Differences, 9, 289-316. 

Invited presentations

Melnyk, L. (2010, December). Children’s memory and suggestibility. Invited keynote address, London Police Service and the Children’s Aid Society of London & Middlesex 'Interviewing Children Seminar,' London, Canada.

Melnyk, L. (2010, November). Wrongful convictions: Applying psychology to the law. Paper presented to the King’s College Psychology Club, Department of Psychology, King’s College, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.

Melnyk, L. (2009, May). The science of line-ups. Paper presented to the London Police Service, London, Canada.

Melnyk, L. (2008, March). Forensic developmental psychology. Paper presented to the London Police Service, London, Canada.

Melnyk, L. (2008, February). Forensic psychology: Issues in eyewitness memory. Paper presented to the King’s University College Alumni Association, London, Canada.

Melnyk, L. (2006, March). Forensic developmental psychology. Paper presented at the workshop, Interviewing and suggestibility in children and adults: Obtaining reliable and accurate accounts, London Regional Psychological Association, London, Canada. 

Melnyk, L. (2006, September). Forensic psychology: Eyewitness memory. Paper presented to the Teachers As Scholars at King’s program, London, Canada.

Melnyk, L. (2005, March). Forensic psychology: Eyewitness identification. Paper presented to the King's College Foundation International Women's Day Lunch, King's University College.

Melnyk, L. (2004, September). The psychology of the courtroom: The accountability of eyewitness testimony. Paper presented to the Faculty of Law, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.

Melnyk, L. (2003, November). The suggestibility of children's eyewitness reports. Paper presented to the Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada.

Melnyk, L. (2003, November). Does source information decrease children's suggestibility? Paper presented at the Developmental Bag Lunch, Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada. 

Melnyk, L. (2002, November). Imagery and children's suggestibility. Paper presented to the Developmental Journal Club, Department of Psychology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.  

Melnyk, L. (2001, November). Children's eyewitness memory. Paper presented to the King's College Psychology Club, Department of Psychology, King's College, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.  

Melnyk, L. (2001, February). Picture this: Imagery and children's suggestibility. Paper presented at the Cognitive Bag Lunch, Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.