Interviewing Eyewitnesses 1& 2 (wk 4) Flashcards
Is retrieval perfect? What can happen at retrieval?
-No
-When you bring a memory to mind it becomes vulnerable to change. Therefore, interviewing witnesses is another time where memory is ‘unset’
What is the spreading activation theory of memory? Who proposed it?
- information is encoded in into cognitive units
-the strength of these units increases with practice and decays with delay
-the units form an interconnected network
-retrieval is achieved by spreading activation throughout the network
-the level of activation in the network determines the rate and probability of recall
John anderson
According to spreading activation theory what is a weak memory trace? What is a strong memory trace?
-Weak trace: not many units
-Strong trace: lots of units
With strong trace you are more likely to encounter a cue in the environment that triggers memory/ activation of the network
What did Endel Tulving contribute to research on the determinants of retrieval?
-Retrieval is a joint product of 1) stored memory traces and 2) cues that are available at retrieval
-Encoding specificity principle: to the extent that encoding conditions and retrieval conditions are similar, memory will be enhanced
* Context plays a large role in retrieval
(study in same room as sit the exam will remember better)
How much influence does the investigator have on the memory of witnesses at each stage?
- Encoding (little or none)
-Storage (a little: Try and interview people as quickly as possible so don’t decay, separate witness’ so they don’t talk to each other)
-Retrieval (enormous amounts)
What interview protocols have been developed ?
-Cognitive Interview (adults)
-NICHD Protocol (children)
What two things are we striving for when we complete interviews with witness’?
-Complete information
-Accurate information
Often there is a trade off between the two
What two things are we striving for when we complete interviews with witness’?
-Complete information
-Accurate information
Often there is a trade off between the two
What are the four important features that all interview protocols agree are important?
-Questioning style
-Rapport
-Clarification of interview rules
-Interviewer objectivity
What hierarchy exists with interview questions?
Open-ended questions
Specific questions
Forced choice questions
Suggestive Questions
Leading Questions
(from most preferable i.e. accurate to least preferable)
However, to consider from an all practical perspective: all open ended questions/ free recall may be the most accurate but it does not yield as much information. A mixture of more specific and more open ended questions needs to be used.
What is the funneling technique for interviewing?
-Interviews should start with a prolonged ‘free recall’ phase, in which the witness is asked to recall as much as he or she can remember
-If interviewers need to ask more specific questions they should jump back to more open ended questions straight afterwards
Is free recall hard to maintain? What did Fisher, Geiselman & Raymond, 1987 find about mean free uninterrupted recall length?
-Interviewers find it extremely difficult to not interrupt the witness during free recall as thinking/ silent time is uncomfortable for them
-One study found that the mean length of uninterrupted free recall was a mere 7.5 seconds (Fisher, Geiselman, & Raymond, 1987)
Loftus and Palmer (1974)
-Subjects viewed film of an automobile accident
-They then answered questions about the film immediately afterwards
-Manipulation = the wording of the questions (“How fast were the cars going when they XXX into each other?”)
-Subjects’ estimates of speed were dependent on the question wording (highest estimate when said smashed)
-Assessed reporting of broken glass at the accident scene
-Reporting of broken glass was related to the wording of the speed estimate question (if wording was smashed most likely to say there was glass)
Loftus & Zanni (1975)
The article used in the sentence “did you see a/the broken headlight” resulted in a huge difference to the percentage of participants saying yes there was (the= twice is likely to agree)
Anatomically detailed dolls
-The use of dolls was well established in forensic practice before people began conducting research as it seems like it would be something that could work (good face value)
-However, in practice dolls require children to do things that are cognitively complex:
understand dual representation
map past events onto dolls
stay on task without drifting into play
Several unsupportive findings:
– Children suspected of abuse engage in more “play” and reported
more fantastic details when interviewed with dolls that when
interviewed without.
– In the lab, dolls lead to increases in false reports of genital and anal touching, and exaggeration of innocuous touching.
– Dolls tend to increase errors without necessarily leading to an increase in detail.
By the mid 1990s, researchers and policy groups had arrived at the following conclusions:
– Children’s interactions with dolls are not diagnostic of abuse.
– Interviewers should not use dolls in ways that ask children to demonstrate abuse prior to verbal reports of abuse.
– Dolls are especially risky with children under 5 years of age.
Visual aids: jack, Martyn & Zajac (2015)
- Showed children, adolescents, and adults a film clip of a simulated crime.
- Around 15 minutes later, participants were asked to give a free recall account of what happened.
- They were then asked to recall the event again. This time, they were assigned to one of four conditions:
- Own sketch
- Provided sketch
- Photograph
- No visual aid
-Regardless of age, visual aids increased the amount of information that participants provided.
-Visual aids actually increased the proportion of accurate information provided.
How might visual aids help?
– Increase the amount of time spent in the interview?
– Decrease social barriers between interviewer and interviewee?
– Help witnesses to provide their own retrieval cues? (spreading activation theory)
– Help witnesses to mentally reinstate context?
(Encoding Specificity Principle)
– Influence the interviewer’s behaviour (stops them from interrupting as much)
In a general sense, how can rapport help with interviewing eye witnesses?
-The more at ease a witness is, the more information he or she is likely to impart
-Especially true when topic is sensitive or traumatic, or witness is fearful of reporting the incident
-Rapport building linked to later interview performance
Sternberg, Lamb, Hershkowitz, et al. (1997)?
-51 investigative interviews with child complainants of sexual abuse (aged between 4 and 12 years)
-Style of rapport building phase manipulated (open-ended or direct questions)
E.g., “Tell me everything that you did on the first night of Hanukkah” versus “Did you light candles on the first night of Hanukkah?”
-First interview question = “I heard that something may have happened to you. Please tell me everything that happened, from the beginning to
the end, as best you can remember” (important to note: this was the same for everyone, it was only the rapport building phase that was manipulated)
-Children in the open-ended rapport building condition uttered over twice as many words and gave over twice as many details in response to the
first interview question
-Improvement was maintained over subsequent open-ended questions
What is the tripartite model of rapport?
The Tripartite Model of Rapport (Tickle-Degnen and Rosenthal, 1990) emphasizes three components:
– mutual attentiveness (focused interaction, involvement, and mutual interest)
– positivity (mutual friendliness, caring, and positive affect)
– coordination (balance, fluency of interaction, and shared understanding)
What were the three different categories of rapport behaviours shown in table 2 from Gabbert er al., 2021?
-Verbal
-Non-verbal
-Para-verbal
What were the three different categories of function of rapport behaviour used in table 3 of Gabbert et al., 2021?
-Personality/ relationship building
-Presenting an approachable demeanor
-Paying attention
Jakobsen (2017)
Norway bombing and mass shooting
Victims reported the most positive experiences of their police interview if they:
– could control their own narrative
– were able to present a coherent account (not interrupted)
– were listened to by an interviewer promoting safety
– perceived the police as empathetic and professional
– could cope with emotional reactions in the interview
– regarded the interview as meaningful
Clarification of interview rules
