Summary of Research by Jodi Quas PhD "During the past several decades, hundreds of studies have tested children's eyewitness memory capabilities and suggestibility. Results demonstrate that children can be manipulated into making all sorts of errors, include claiming that entirely false events occurred."
Why some children talk about abuse that never happened "In parental alienation cases children confess to things they never experienced because they are under the pressure of a parent who interrogates the child every time they see or hear from their other parent. The parent usually emotionally confides in the child, denigrates the other parent or makes the child believe the other parent is unsafe or dangerous. They tell the child about adult matters like family court, child support and things no parent should ever discuss with a child. They often lie about things that never happened and add a nasty twist to real stories to make them more believable."
Interrogation can cause people to falsely confess "The majority of false confessions are not the result of an underlying mental disturbance or change in memory (though we’ll get to those), but of a highly aggressive form of interrogation. Especially in America, suspects may rationally decide to confess falsely, in large part because of the police officers’ ability to lie about evidence. This allowance includes lying about DNA, prints, surveillance footage, and polygraph results."
See also Can a Child Really Be Manipulated Like That
See also results from the American Psychiatric Association Regarding Disordered Parenting, as well as a summary of 40 empirical studies on psychological control as well as Dr. Kernberg's notes on Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism as well as Kerig's book on parent child boundary dissolution.
Alexandra Stein has researched Cults and summarized vast research in Terror, Love, and Brainwashing: Attachment in cults and Totalitarian Systems. Parental alienation falls into her category "dangerous relationships". For information, refer to the chapter in the Mental Health Child Abuse Scandal.