Children who were instructed by researchers to lie about whether and how they were touched were able to maintain the lie when asked repeated direct questions during a mock forensic interview. This suggests that children can maintain secrets and falsify information when coached to do so. Children can also maintain simple false reports about having never experienced touching even under repeated yes/no questions. Liars, however, were less accurate than truth-tellers when answering touch questions unrelated to the lie. Although children successfully maintained the coached lie and said that they had been touched on their stomach, nose, and neck, they were less accurate in stating that they were not touched on the ears and toes. The truth-tellers who had been touched were significantly less accurate and less consistent in their responses than were the liars and the children who had not been touched and told the truth. Participants included 35 children, ages 4-7, with 17 being boys. Children came to a research laboratory and played with an adult. During the play, no child was touched on his/her toes or ears, but some were touched on the bare skin of their stomach, nose, and neck. After 1 to 3 weeks, children were interviewed about what happened. Immediately prior to the interview, some children who had not been touched were instructed to lie and say they had been touched on the stomach, nose, and neck. The remaining children were instructed to tell the truth. 2 figures and 31 references