L12 - Metacognition and Eyewitness Recall

Question 1

Is it possible to boost an eye-witnesses memory?

Answer 1

No

They either see things or they don’t, trying to improve their memory is more likely to influence it in a way that makes it less true.

Question 2

What are the two things that “guide” a memory report in the model of monitoring and memory control

Answer 2

Monitoring of memory (when people are trying to recall)

The things we can tweak to produce differences in output

Question 3

What did Fisher and Geiselman (1992) find when they looked at how police interviews were being done at the time?

Answer 3

They were based on a lot of folklore and there was very little empiricle evidence guiding how they were being conducted.

Question 4

What interview style did Fisher and Geiselman (1992) develop?

Answer 4

Cognitive Interview

Question 5

What are the 4 stages of Fisher and Geiselman’s (1992) cognitive interview?

Answer 5

1. Build rapport (foster control over report in the witness)
2. Context reinstatement (“think back to the event”)
3. Open ended report (free recall)
4. Focussed report (re-examine report from difference perspectives etc)

Question 6

In Fisher and Geiselman (1992) cognitive interview, we are assuming that the witness is….

Answer 6

Co-operative

Not trying to decieve

Question 7

What does “foster control over report in the witness” mean (stage 1 of cognitive interview)

Answer 7

Handing control of the report over to the witness

Question 8

What stage of the cognitive interview may this question be a part of - If a policeman asks a witness to “imagine yourself from another perspective”

Answer 8

Stage 4

Question 9

What % increase of correct detail does the meta-analysis show that the cognitive interview generate?

Answer 9

34%

(some research to suggest increase in false details too)

Question 10

As there seems to be some research to suggest that the cognitive interview increases false details, how might we address this?

Answer 10

Reducing report threshold

(signal detection theory - report threshold is too wide)

Question 11

What have studies revealed in regards to which is the least effective stage within the cognitive interview?

Answer 11

The focussed report stage

Question 12

Which stage of the cognitive interview elicits the most useful and accurate info?

Answer 12

Free recall stage (Roberts & Higham, 2002)

False info can come in when interviewers begin asking leading questions

Question 13

The cognitive interview is the gold standard of interviews, but what are some problems with the cognitive interview (CI)?

Answer 13

1. Relative lack of ease of use for ‘front line’ officers
2. Therefore, few police officers use it
3. No clear picture of factors driving a improvement in recall accuracy (with police mediated review in particular)

Question 14

People are setting a report threshold somewhere, but a good memory report is reliant on good memory monitoring

How do witnesses monitor their memory accuracy?

Answer 14

1. Meta-cognitive feelings
2. Meta-cognitive judgments

Question 15

What types of monitoring information (cues) that can influence memory reports do people use to determine whether a memory is correct?

Answer 15

Memory content (analytic cues)

Highly detailed memories are more likely to be correct

Perceptual Fluency (inferential cue)

Busey, Tunnicliff, Loftus & Loftus (2000)

Rerieval Fluency (inferential cue)

Repeated post-event questioning inflates confidence (Shaw & Mclure, 1996)

Question 16

What can happen if you are interviewed by multiple people about what you witnessed?

Answer 16

You generate retrieval fluency which increase your confidence of your account but not accuracy.

Question 17

Why is it important to allow the witness to say “I don’t know” when asked about whether they remember an event

Answer 17

Control over the report options can influence the answers they give. Witnesses must volunteer the information they remember.

If witnesses are forced to answer, they may give incorrect information

Question 18

What is “grain size”

What are the two types of grain size?

Answer 18

They degree to which you can describe what you saw

Fine Grain vs Broad Grain

Fine detail vs general information

Question 19

Why is allowing witnesses control over grain size important in an interview?

Answer 19

It allows them to answer a question without having to say “I don’t know” but give less informative answers

Gives the witness control over report (first stage of the cognitive interview)

Question 20

What was the two-phase methodology of the Weber and Brewer (2008) experiment?

Answer 20

1. Asking someone to generate a reponse to a question and to give their confidence in their answer (but not give it)
2. They come back later and decide whether they want to volunteer info
   * Ask people to generate answer in fine grain or coarse grain of detail*

Question 21

What happens to the grain size if you allow people to control over grain size?

What were the results of the Weber and Brewer (2008) experiment?

Answer 21

You can get an increase in the amount of fine-grain responses at phase 2 when you allow people to vary the detail of the information given

Question 22

Whats the relationship between grain size and accuracy?

What conclusions were found in the Weber and Brewer (2008) experiment?

Answer 22

Giving witnesses control of grain size and you can boost accuracy

If you force them to give a particular type of grain size then you get a reduction of accuracy

Question 23

What two types of “control” is best for generating the most accurate information from witnesses?

Answer 23

Allowing witnesses control over report size and grain size

Allowing them to say “I dont know” and to choose whether they want to give a fine or coarse grain response

Question 24

What is meant by the fact that an interview is “dynamic”?

Answer 24

Interviewers can be influenced by inverviewees and feedback occurs in both directions during an interview

Question 25

In what ways can subtle and explicit cues influence an interview of a witness? (Douglass, Brewer & Semmler, 2009)

Answer 25

Subtle and explicit cues from an interviewer can totally change estimates of view, attention, confidence

Subtle and explicit cues about accuracy in an interview could also affect control of the eyewitnesses report

Question 26

What is the post identification feedback effect? (sometimes just called the feedback effect)

Answer 26

Confirming and disconfirming information about the quality of the witnesses memory can modify the reports about viewing conditions

Question 27

In the Douglass, Brewer and Semmler (2009) experiment, what predictions did they make regarding positive feedback?

Answer 27

That positive feedback and an inference that it reflects good memory would lead to a reduction in the output of quantity but would increase overall accuracy.

Question 28

Why did Douglass, Brewer & Semmler (2009) predict that giving positive feedback may reduce witnesses report threshold?

Answer 28

Producing info and getting feedback is “good” may make them require more confidence to report new information

Question 29

What did Douglass, Brewer & Semmler (2009) experiment show regarding matching the goals of interviewers and interviewees?

Answer 29

When goals of interview and interviewee match more accurate information is elicited.

• Making sure they have a clear understanding of what the outcomes they want are is a very important step before conducting the interview*
• (matching goals on the right hand side, non-matching goals on the left (not labelled correctly)*

Question 30

What did Fontaine & Semmler (2016) investigate in their experiment?

Answer 30

1. Does mental reinstatement of context impact narrative recall (grain-size, quantity and accuracy)
2. How does the instruction to report detail impact on narrative recall
3. Do naivety instructions impact narrative recall
4. What does the “do not guess” instruction do to narrative recall

Question 31

What are “naivety instructions”

Answer 31

When you tell the witness “I haven’t seen this, I wasn’t there I can’t confirm it, only you can tell me what went on”

Question 32

What were the 4 instructional demands given to witnesses in the Fontaine and Semmler (2016) 3 experiments?

Answer 32

Mental-reinstatement-of-context (MRC)

Do-not-guess (DNG

Report-detail (RDT)

Naivety (NVT

Question 33

What did Fontaine and Semmler (2016) find when giving witnesses the report-detail instruction?

Answer 33

Report detail was a changing criterion

Got an increase in correct details, an increase in incorrect details (errors) and an increase in the fine grain details (precision)

but accuracy was not effected

Question 34

What did Fontaine and Semmler (2016) find with the mental-reinstatement-of-context instruction?

Answer 34

Iincrease in correct answers - moderate increase in errors but no change in grain size (precision) or accuracy

Question 35

What did Fontaine and Semmler (2016) find with the naivety instruction?

Answer 35

Moderate increase in correct info

No effect on errors

Large increase in precision

No affect on accuracy

Telling witnesses you weren’t there and you are naive makes them much more likely to give fine grain responses

Question 36

What did Fontaine and Semmler (2016) find with the do-not-guess instruction?

Answer 36

Slight increase in correct info

No affect on errors, precision or accuracy

Question 37

Why is it important to have “blind coders” for doing eyewitness research?

Answer 37

It is highly subjective and therefore this increases inter-rater reliability